Economic fears as Africa escalates coronavirus response

DAKAR, Senegal — African nations have ordered curfews and lockdowns in response to the growing coronavirus epidemic, raising fears of turmoil for low-income workers and cash-strapped governments across the continent.

Cases have risen across the world's poorest continent over the past week to a total of 2,137 and 62 deaths, according to an AFP tally, prompting countries to enact strict counter measures.

South Africa, the continent's most developed economy — which at 554 cases has Africa's largest outbreak — on Monday announced a nationwide lockdown.


"Without decisive action, the number of people infected will rapidly increase... to hundreds of thousands," South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said at the time.

There are fears that weak health infrastructure in Africa will leave the continent particularly exposed to an outbreak on the scale of virus-stricken Europe.


Other countries are following suit with similar measures. More are expected to be announced in the coming days.

On Monday, Senegal and Ivory Coast both declared states of emergency and ordered night-time curfews.

Ivory Coast on Tuesday said it had recorded 73 coronavirus cases in total and would lock areas down progressively, depending on how the virus spreads.

Senegal has recorded 86 coronavirus cases to date, its health ministry said on Tuesday. Ivory Coast has 25 known coronavirus cases.

Ivory Coast PM in self-isolation

In a sign of coronavirus' increasing reach, Ivory Coast's Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly said on Twitter on Tuesday that he was in a self-isolation after coming into contact with a positive case.

As the virus spreads, there are also fears that poor and debt-saddled countries will unable to provide an adequate response.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Tuesday asked G20 leaders for $150 billion in emergency funding to deal with coronavirus, saying that it "poses an existential threat" to the economies of African countries.

He added that creditors should partly write off national debt for low-income countries.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told France's parliament on Tuesday that there would be a European financial aid package for poor countries fighting the virus.

"I'm thinking in particular about Africa," he said.

'How do we pay the rent?'

Adopting lockdowns and social distancing measures in poor African nations is also generating economic worries at the local level.

Homes are often overcrowded, and workers in the informal economy cannot self-isolate at home without abandoning their livelihoods.

Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organisation's regional director for Africa, admitted these difficulties in a briefing with reporters last week.

She said such measures were "quite a challenge" and that the WHO is working on other approaches such as making hand sanitisers more widely available.

Locals are increasingly concerned as containment measures bite.

"They're closing down the stalls, the restaurants, but how are we supposed to feed our families?" asked Nemy Fery, who runs a street-food stall in Abidjan, Ivory Coast's main city.

He added that he would try selling takeaway meals -- and look for another job.

There are similar concerns in Muslim-majority Senegal, where the authorities were already struggling last week to enforce a ban on praying in mosques.

Sabah Amar, who works in a souvenir shop, said that Senegalese people "will die of hunger" before they succumb to coronavirus.

Several people interviewed by AFP in Dakar nonetheless said they supported the government's coronavirus measures.

"I prefer that everything closes. We're not selling anything anyway," said Amar. "Otherwise we're all going to die."

In the north of the continent, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli on Tuesday announced a two-week night-time curfew.

And in the east, cases have doubled in Rwanda, to 36, while South Sudan has closed its air and land borders, except for food and fuel supplies.

Rising cases

The archipelago nation of Cape Verde on Tuesday announced its first coronavirus fatality after a 62-year-old British tourist died.

Cameroon also recorded its first death — a man who had contracted the disease in Italy and tested positive on March 14, according to Health Minister Manachi Manaouda.

Four people have died in Burkina Faso, which is West Africa's worst-hit country with 115 confirmed cases.

Countries that have announced strict containment measures are turning to the army to enforce them.

Military patrols in Senegal will ensure people respecting the dusk-to-dawn curfew, for example.

South Africa's president has also said the army will enforce his country's lockdown.

Nombulelo Tyokolo, 41, a domestic worker  in Cape Town, who shares a one-bedroom shack with her son, told AFP she was worried about how the lockdown will work.

"I am scared, worried and panicking about 21 days indoors," she said.

"We have to fetch water outside and go outside to the toilets. God have mercy." — with AFP Africa bureaux

Agence France-Presse

Arnold Schwarzenegger gets a flying kick during event

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger was assaulted during a public appearance in South Africa on Saturday, but the 71-year-old quickly recovered and said, “I’m just glad the idiot didn’t interrupt my Snapchat.”

Video shows the former California governor standing and filming children at a sporting event in Johannesburg when a man makes a flying kick into his back. Schwarzenegger stumbles forward. The man is quickly grabbed by security. Off camera a man shouts several times “Help me!”

The video shortly afterward shows Schwarzenegger smiling and shaking hands with bystanders before walking out ringed by security.

Schwarzenegger later posted on Twitter: “Thanks for your concerns, but there is nothing to worry about. I thought I was just jostled by the crowd, which happens a lot. I only realized I was kicked when I saw the video like all of you. I’m just glad the idiot didn’t interrupt my Snapchat.”

Schwarzenegger also tweeted a second video of the incident “without whatever he was yelling so he doesn’t get the spotlight.”

“By the way…” he joked, “block or charge?”

Schwarzenegger had been attending his Arnold Classic Africa event, which features dozens of sports and fitness activities. In a separate Twitter post, the event blamed a “crazed fan” for the assault.

The statement cited organizer Wayne Price as saying the assailant was “known to the police for orchestrating similar incidents in the past” and that Schwarzenegger was “fine and still in good spirits.”

The actor confirmed he had no intention of pursuing charges and would continue with another appearance on Sunday as planned, the statement said. /cbb

source: entertainment.inquirer.net

Tears, exuberance as ‘Black Panther’ opens across Africa

JOHANNESBURG  — “Black Panther” has burst onto the screen in Africa, handing a powerful response to the unfortunate remarks about the continent by President Donald Trump.

As the red carpet in South Africa swirled with stunning outfits and exclamations in the local Xhosa language used in the film’s Wakanda kingdom, cast member John Kani laughed at the U.S. president’s views, which several African nations have openly scorned. (Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o said simply: “No comment.”)

The South African actor Kani, like many at Friday night’s Johannesburg premiere, expressed pride at seeing an Afro-futuristic society that celebrates traditional cultures and dreams of what the world’s second most populous continent can be.

“This time the sun now is shining on Africa,” he said. “This movie came at the right time. We’re struggling to find leaders that are exemplary and role models … so when you see the Black Panther as a young boy and he takes off that mask you think, ‘Oh my God, he looks like me. He is African and I am African. Now we can look up to some person who is African.'”

Added actress Danai Gurira, who grew up mostly in Zimbabwe: “To bring this film home is everything.”

The film has opened in other top economic powers across Africa, where a growing middle class flocked to IMAX showings and shared vibrant opening-night images on social media.

“The African culture highlighted in the movie is so rich that it makes me feel proud of being black. I totally love it,” said Liz Muthoni after a screening in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. “I can watch it again and again.”

“Black Panther” screened a few days ago in Kenya’s western city of Kisumu, where Nyong’o’s father, Anyang, is the local governor.

“Sometimes we think that we have two choices to make in Africa,” he wrote this month in The Star newspaper.

“Choice one: We maintain our traditions and cultures and stay backward forever. Choice two: We modernize by becoming westernized and forgetting our cultural traditions which, by their very nature so we think, are stuck in the past. The experience of the Wakanda people teaches us otherwise.”

In Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, “Black Panther” has been selling out its five-times-a-day screenings at the only theater showing the film.

“Moviegoers are enjoying the African heritage part of the film. This is also unique for us because Ethiopia is often mentioned alongside the black power and black movements as the only nation not colonized by Western powers,” said Elias Abraha, the cinema’s operations chief. “There are people who changed their flight plans just to watch the movie.”

Some Ethiopian fans quickly changed their Facebook profile pictures and expressed their adoration.

“Tears stream down my face as I write this,” said one Facebook user who goes by LadyRock Maranatha. “Black Panther was basically an enormous . roller coaster of emotions, adventure and most of all the affirmation of what I had felt since I left my country for Cambridge and came back. I cried for my people and felt immense pride in being Ethiopian and most importantly AFRICAN. We are truly resilient and beautiful.”

As the audience poured out of the Johannesburg screening, spirits were high.

“Totally blown away. I got emotional,” said reality TV star Blue Mbombo, who admitted that going into the film she thought the expectations had been “hype.” But she praised its use of cultural touches like Basotho blankets and called the use of the isiXhosa language “very humbling.”

Others considered the American side of the story. “An African-American coming back to Africa, it’s a nice reminder of their heritage as well,” said Ayanda Sidzatane. She called the film awesome. “We knew it would be cool but not like this.”

Some anticipated a flood of interest from African-Americans, even cheekily. “Now I know Black Panther makes Africa look cool … But please don’t come to Lagos … It’s overcrowded,” Nigerian artist Arinze Stanley tweeted of the continent’s most populous city.

As Ghanaian celebrity blogger Ameyaw Debrah put it on social media: “What will #BlackPanther make the world think of Africa now?” MKH

source: entertainment.inquirer.net

Mandela statue unveiled in South Africa capital

PRETORIA — South Africa has unveiled a gigantic statue of anti-apartheid fighter Nelson Mandela to cheers and singing at the Union Buildings in its capital.

The mood was joyous Monday in Pretoria as a military band played and fighter jets flew overhead to honor Mandela after 10 days of mourning over his death ended Sunday with his burial.

President Jacob Zuma presided over the unveiling, which preceded a party in celebration of the Day of Reconciliation, a national holiday.

The statue stands on the grounds of the Union Buildings, where Mandela delivered his inaugural speech after becoming South Africa’s first black president in 1994.

The buildings had been a hated symbol of the apartheid regime to many South Africans.

Mandela was buried Sunday at his ancestral home in the village of Qunu.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Mandela’s widow makes first public appearance

SOWETO — Nelson Mandela’s widow Graca Machel on Tuesday made her first public appearance since his death as she arrived helped along by friends at the Soweto stadium for his memorial.

Wearing a black coat and dress, the Mozambican human rights campaigner linked arms as she made her way slowly into the bowels of the building.

Machel barely left her husband’s bedside in the final six months of his life.

She maintained a near round-the-clock bedside vigil during the 84 days Mandela spent in a Pretoria hospital and the subsequent three months he spent at home before he died on December 5.

One of her rare public appearances came a month ago, when she was spotted at the premiere of the movie “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom” tracing her husband’s journey from prisoner to president.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

World leaders, celebrities remember Nelson Mandela’s legacy

MANILA, Philippines—Nelson Mandela, arguably the personification of democracy and unity, has left his legacy imprinted on the world and on its influential personalities.

“He achieved more than could be expected of any man,” United States President Barack Obama said.

In his Twitter page, Obama described the South African leader responsible for the abolition of apartheid as “a man who took history in his hands and bent the arc of the moral universe towards justice.”

He also asked to give thanks to “the fact that Nelson Mandela lived.”

South African President Jacob Zuma described Mandela as a father to the people, and a son to the nation.

“Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father.”

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a South African social rights activist, said that Mandela was the unifying force of South Africa.

“He was a unifier from the moment he walked out of prison. He taught us how to come together and believe in ourselves.”

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said Mandela has “touched our lives in deeply personal ways.”

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that with Mandela’s abolition of Apartheid, Mandela has “succeeded in building a nation.”

“Mr. Mandela fought with strong determination to abolish apartheid, and he succeeded in building a country with reconciliation as its foundation.”

Former US President Bill Clinton described Mandela as a champion in human history.

“History will remember Mandela as a champion of human dignity and freedom, for peace and reconciliation,” Clinton said.

British Prime Minister said that “a great light has gone out in the world,” in his description of Mandela.

Poland’s Solidarity leader and former president Lech Walesa said simply, “a great man has died.”

The sporting world

Mandela not only touched world leaders but the also sports especially rugby, the same spectacle that united a torn Africa in 1995,

“He used the 1995 Rugby World Cup, the first major sporting event to be hosted in South Africa after the 1994 democratic elections, as an instrument of change to help promote unity amongs all South Africans,” the South African Rugby Union said.

English cricket legend Geoffrey Boycott gave Mandela the highest honor when he expressed his condolences for the man.

“I asked if he was a bowler or a batsman. He smiled and said he was an all-rounder. I said ‘I thought you were a God.’”

Former England football captain and Manchester United legend David Beckham described Mandela as someone who “had genuine for so many people.”

“We have lost a true gentleman and a courageous human being. It was truly an honor to have known a man who had genuine love for so many people.”

Manchester United also tweeted their sympathies for the man that changed South Africa.

“We are saddened to hear of Nelson Mandela’s death. He was truly a great man,” the club Twitter posted, together with a photograph of Mandela and United’s former manager Sir Alex Ferguson

Boxing legend Mike Tyson, who heard of Mandela’s death in Africa also posted a photograph of Mandela posing with a clenched fist with boxing promoter Don King and legendary welterweight Sugar Ray Leonard.

“I’m hearing about Nelson Mandela’s death while on African soil in Oran, Algeria. Sending prayers to Mandela’s family.


Stars knelt for ‘God’

U2 frontman Bono, who have dedicated most of his professional life for charity, especially in Africa, put Mandela on high regard in the growth of South Africa.

“Without Mandela, would Africa be experiencing its best decade of growth and poverty reduction?”

South African actress Charlize Theron has prayed for Mandela and said that the African hero’s impact “will live forever.”

“Rest in Peace Madiba. You will be missed, but your impact on this world will live forever.”

Samuel L. Jackson also, who personally met Mandela, said he has never met a person “better” than Mandela.

“Never met a better person in my life than Nelson Mandela. My sympathy to his family and country.”

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net