AFRICA

Tripoli, Libya | AFP |  Either on television as in Libya or on tablets in the IT-savvy Gulf monarchies, in the time of novel coronavirus millions of schoolchildren around the Arab world are now learning lessons at home. Governments across the region have shuttered schools forcing pupils to stay away in …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | DR Congo’s former health minister, who led the fight against a deadly Ebola outbreak, was sentenced to jail along with a colleague on Monday for stealing funds destined to fight the disease. Oly Ilunga was sentenced to five years in jail by the Court of Cassation, while the former …

  Pretoria, South Africa | AFP |  South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday announced a three-week national lock-down to contain the spread of the deadly new coronavirus which has affected more than 400 people. He said government “has decided to enforce a nationwide lockdown for 21 days with effect …

Blantyre, Malawi | AFP | Malawians will return to the polls on July 2 for a presidential election re-run ordered by the country’s top court, which annulled last year’s vote results because of irregularities, the electoral commission announced Monday. “Following the Constitutional Court ruling on February 3 that nullified the presidential …

Gaborone, Botswana | AFP |  Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi has gone into self-quarantine after a visit to neighbouring Namibia, which has three coronavirus cases, to attend the inauguration of the new president there, government announced Sunday. Namibian President Hage Geingob was sworn in at Windhoek on Saturday. Botswana’s director of …

Kigali, Rwanda | AFP | Rwanda went into shutdown on Sunday, imposing some of the strictest coronavirus measures in Africa where infections are rising fast and hospitals ill-equipped to cope. The central African nation banned all “unnecessary movements”, mirroring steps by governments from the Indian Ocean nation of Mauritius to …

Conakry, Guinea | AFP |  Voters in the West African state Guinea were being called to the polls on Sunday for a bitterly-disputed referendum that critics say is a ploy by President Alpha Conde to stay in power. Conde is proposing a change to the constitution to codify gender equality and …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP |  In Chitungwiza, a town of half-a-million people south of Harare, several women are waiting at the water pump with large cans, concern etched on their faces, fearful of the growing threat of the coronavirus. “We can go for months without running water,” said one woman, especially …

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia  | THE INDEPENDENT | In ongoing efforts to contain the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus and provide aid to afflicted communities across the globe, the Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation has committed to donating 100,000 medical masks, 20,000 test kits and 1,000 protective suits to each …

Cairo, Egypt | AFP |  In Egypt’s overcrowded and putrid jails, families of prisoners fear a potentially catastrophic coronavirus outbreak and are calling for their imminent release as the rest of the country hunkers down. Egypt has halted family visits to inmates at least until the end of this month citing …