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Editor’s Note: Every Friday, Andrew Green selects top news and analysis from and about the African continent.
After a decades-long eradication campaign, health officials declared Africa free of wild poliovirus this week, even as they called for continued surveillance against a rare mutation of the virus still circulating on the continent.
Wild poliovirus, which is usually transmitted through contaminated water, mainly affects children under the age of five, causing irreversible paralysis and even death. As recently as 1996, the virus affected 75,000 African children. That was the year health officials launched the ambitious eradication effort, coordinating immunization campaigns across the continent and closely monitoring reported outbreaks, sometimes in hostile environments.
In Nigeria, which reported the last case of wild poliovirus on the continent four years ago, vaccination teams repeatedly ventured into areas controlled by the militant Islamist group Boko Haram. Working with the Nigerian military, the vaccinators coordinated a “hit and run” strategy to launch immunization campaigns within hours after the territories were cleared of extremists. Despite the precautions, several health workers died.
Dr Matshidiso Moeti, Africa Director of the World Health Organization, called eradication “a momentous milestone for Africa”, saying the campaign has prevented 1.8 million cases of polio-related paralysis. In declaring the continent free of wild poliovirus, the independent African Regional Certification Commission urged continued immunization campaigns, as cases of vaccine-derived polio still circulate in 16 countries. This rare form of the virus occurs when the weakened but live virus from the oral polio vaccine mutates within the recipient’s gut and then circulates in communities with low immunization rates.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo scored another health victory this week, with authorities declaring an end to a measles outbreak that killed at least 7,000 children. The outbreak began in June 2018, prompting a vaccination campaign that reached more than 18 million children.
Stay up-to-date on the news from Africa with our selected Africa news cable daily.
Here is a summary of news from other parts of the continent:
West africa
Mali: Negotiations are stalled between coup leaders and regional mediators on the terms to institute a transitional government to replace the ousted president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. The military junta that deposed Keita earlier this month has announced plans to remain in power for a “transition period” of three years. Negotiators from the Economic Community of West African States are pressuring the coup leaders to install a one-year transitional government led by a retired or civilian military officer before democratic elections. ECOWAS mediators, concerned that a power vacuum will allow Islamist extremists in northern Mali to extend their reach, are pushing for a swift resolution, threatening to maintain a travel and trade ban in Mali until a agreement on a transitional government. In recognition of ECOWAS’s demands, coup leaders released Keita from detention on Thursday, allowing him to return home under heavy guard.
Ivory Coast: President Alassane Ouattara presented documentation to launch his controversial third-term bid on Tuesday, challenging critics who say it is constitutionally limited to two terms. Ouattara pledged in March not to seek another term, but backed down after his preferred successor, Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly, died in July. Ouattara claims he is allowed to run because a 2016 constitutional review reset the clock on his term, but his repeal has sparked violent protests across the country that have left at least eight people dead. In a WPR briefing earlier this month, Clair MacDougall wrote that activists “fear that the president’s candidacy for a third term could fracture an already fragile nation that has yet to heal from the wounds of recent conflicts.” Meanwhile, former President Laurent Gbagbo is out of the running after a court upheld the Independent Election Commission’s decision to ban convicted criminals from participating. Gbagbo was convicted last year of looting a regional bank during the violence that erupted after he refused to cede power to Ouattara following the 2010 presidential vote. Instead, Pascal Affi N’Guessan will represent the Popular Front party of Costa de Ivory by Gbagbo. Former President Henri Konan Bedie also presented his documentation to execute.
Colonel Major Ismael Wague, center, spokesman for the Mali military junta, in Kati, Mali, on Aug. 19, 2020 (AP photo).
North Africa
Tunisia: Bypassing talks with political factions, Prime Minister-designate Hichem Mechichi this week proposed a cabinet made up almost entirely of independent technocrats. He promised they would “come up with urgent solutions,” including a plan to revive Tunisia’s faltering economy. But Mechichi’s decision not to involve political parties in the decision has angered its leaders, particularly those of the Islamist Ennahda party, which has the most seats in parliament. The government of former Prime Minister Elyes Fakhfakh collapsed in July after Ennahda withdrew from the ruling coalition. If lawmakers reject Mechichi’s cabinet, President Kais Saied will likely be forced to call new parliamentary elections.
South Africa
Zambia: President Edgar Lungu’s surprise firing of central bank governor Denny Kalyalya on Sunday has raised concerns about the institution’s independence and the future of the country’s economy. Kalyalya had been trying to control public spending and cut the fiscal deficit amid mounting debt and a decline in foreign exchange reserves. Zambia has seen its inflation rate rise to 16 percent over the past year; Experts have warned that the central bank must maintain tight fiscal policies or the situation could spiral out of control. Lungu replaced Kalyalya with a close ally, former Deputy Finance Minister Christopher Mvunga, prompting a concerned response from the International Monetary Fund, which issued a statement saying it was crucial that the central bank’s “independence and credibility be maintained.”
Mozambique: The shared office of two major independent newspapers was ransacked on Monday. Unknown attackers broke into the headquarters of the weekly Mozambique Channel and the daily CanalMoz in the capital, Maputo, destroyed computers and stole files, before setting fire to the building with Molotov cocktails. A local rights organization suggested that the attack could be related to a recent Mozambique Channel investigation into bribery allegations involving prominent Mozambicans who were vying for control of the country’s lucrative fuel retail business.
east africa
Tanzania: The country’s main opposition parties this week failed to form a coalition before the official start of the campaign for the October general elections. Instead, the National Electoral Commission certified individual candidates from each of the three main opposition parties to compete against President John Magufuli, who is seeking a second five-year term. The divided opposition should benefit Magufuli in a race where the candidate who receives the most votes wins the election. Tundu Lissu, the candidate of the main opposition party CHADEMA, who recently returned from exile in Belgium to compete against Magufuli, said that opposition negotiations will continue. Sophie Neiman interviewed Lissu, a former MP who was shot 16 times in an assassination attempt in 2017, for WPR this week. She said she expected the administration to make a “tough campaign” but added that “it is very important that we continue, that I personally continue to hold my position, whatever the consequences.”
Central Africa
Republic of Congo: Former President Pascal Lissouba, who won the country’s first multi-party elections in 1992, died in France on Monday at the age of 88. His tenure was clouded by clashes between his supporters and supporters of current President Denis Sassou Nguesso, who first assumed power in 1979 and lost to Lissouba in the 1992 vote. After a civil war broke out in 1997 , Nguesso deposed Lissouba and forced him into exile. An official, Lissouba became minister of agriculture and then prime minister in 1963, where he advocated policies of economic liberalism. In the crackdown that followed the 1977 assassination of President Marien Ngouabi, Lissouba was arrested and forced to flee the country and eventually settled in France. He worked as a professor of genetics at the University of Paris and for the United Nations, before returning to the Congo to run for president.
Top readings on the Web
How a Kenyan businessman is speeding up postal mail: Kenya has been at the forefront of Africa’s digital revolution, but key services, including pension payments and health care correspondence, still depend on a physical postal system. However, postal access is limited, particularly in rural areas, as the system relies on centralized physical offices, rather than home delivery. Critical correspondence can stay for months in a post office hundreds of miles from its recipient. For The Christian Science Monitor, Vincent Matinde describes a new initiative, MPost, which attempts to harness cell phone technology to power the postal service by sending recipients a text message as soon as their letter or package reaches the post office. of your choice.
A non-profit organization held in Rwanda faces dire allegations of misconduct: In 2016, the Sustainable Development Goals Center for Africa was launched in Kigali, Rwanda, with an all-star board that included several heads of state and the famed economist Jeffrey Sachs. The non-profit organization was meant to support governments and businesses across the continent in their efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, the interrelated UN goals to reduce hunger, address climate change and improve global health. . Instead, the center’s managing director, Belay Begashaw, is accused of overseeing an atmosphere of abuse and mismanagement that led to its recent suspension, and has left the organization on the brink of collapse. For VICE, Leah Feiger details the allegations against Begashaw, including allegations of sexual harassment, intimidation and embezzlement.
Andrew Green is a freelance journalist based in Berlin. He writes regularly on health and human rights issues. You can see more of his work at www.theandrewgreen.com.
