Day: December 26, 2021

Namibia on Saturday recorded 1008 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths, taking the country’s death toll to 3610.

According to Health and Social Services Minister, Dr Kalumbi Shangula on Sunday, the new cases formed part of 2 449 results, representing a 41.2 per cent positivity ratio, with a sex distribution of 537 females and 471 males aged between three days and 101 years.

The Khomas Region recorded the highest number of cases at 224, followed by Oshana with 163, Erongo 129, Hardap 105, Otjozondjupa 100, Omusati 67, Oshikoto 66, Kunene 43, Zambezi 31, Ohangwena 28, llKaras 27, Omaheke 18, Kavango West five and Kavango East two.

Among the confirmed cases are 77 learners, 16 teachers, 20 students and 35 healthcare workers.

A total of 18 cases have received one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, 130 are fully vaccinated, nine received booster shots (third dose) while 844 or 83.7 per cent of the new cases are unvaccinated.

Shangula further reported 935 new recoveries, bringing total recoveries in the country to 129 505.

The number of active cases on Saturday increased to 13 959 of which 329 were hospitalised and 27 admitted to intensive care units (ICU). Ten of the hospitalized cases received one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 42 are fully vaccinated, while three cases in ICU are fully vaccinated.

The minister also reported that by Saturday, 403 426 people had received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine of which 104 342 had received the single dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. A total of 1 710 are children aged 12 to 17 years, with 237 255 adults having received two doses of other vaccines.

A total of 341 597 people had therefore completed their vaccination, which translates to 22.7 per cent of the target population. Meanwhile, 4 417 people have received a booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccines.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

The bodies of 28 migrants have washed up on Libya’s western coast after their boat sunk, a security official said Sunday, the latest tragedy on the world’s deadliest migration route.

“Libyan Red Crescent teams recovered 28 bodies of dead migrants and found three survivors at two different sites on the beaches of Al-Alous,” some 90 kilometers (55 miles) from Tripoli, the source said.

“The bodies’ advanced state of decomposition indicates that the shipwreck happened several days ago,” he said, adding the toll could rise in the coming hours.

Images published by Libyan media outlets showed corpses lined up along the shore then placed in body bags.

Libya, wracked by a decade of conflict and lawlessness, has become a key departure point for African and Asian migrants making desperate attempts to reach Europe.

Migrants often endure horrific conditions in Libya before embarking northwards on overcrowded, often unseaworthy vessels that frequently sink or get into trouble.

The latest tragedy comes just days after 160 migrants died within a week in similar incidents, bringing the total number of lives lost this year to 1,500, according to the International Organization for Migration.

The IOM says more than 30,000 migrants have been intercepted in the same period and returned to Libya.

The European Union has cooperated closely with the Libyan Coast Guard to cut numbers of migrants arriving on European shores.

On their return, many face further horrific abuses in detention centers.

Source: Voice of America

South Africa’s Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has died at the age of 90. The Nobel peace laureate was known worldwide for anti-apartheid activism and as a champion of human rights.

His death was announced Sunday by South African President President Cyril Ramaphosa.

“The passing of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is another chapter of bereavement in our nation’s farewell to a generation of outstanding South Africans who have bequeathed us a liberated South Africa,” he said.

Tutu was far more than a spiritual leader.

He spent his life advocating for civil rights and speaking out against injustice, corruption and oppression.

Thabo Makgoba is the Anglican archbishop of Cape Town.

“He wanted every human being on Earth to experience the freedom, the peace, and the joy that all of us could enjoy if we truly respected one another. And because he worshiped to God, he feared no one.He named wrong wherever he saw it and by whoever it was committed,” Makgoba said.

Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his activism against South Africa’s racist apartheid regime.

When Nelson Mandela was released from prison, Tutu housed him on his first night of freedom.

The archbishop then presented Mandela to the public as the country’s first Black president in 1994.

Tutu was at the helm in the country’s healing process after apartheid, chairing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, where many horrific accounts of injustice were heard.

Despite the hardships he confronted, Tutu is remembered for his peaceful activism and ability to forgive.

Parliamentarian Patricia De Lille spoke to reporters about her memories of the Arch, as he was known.

“Humor and a great sense of timing were amongst the Arch’s greatest assets. He had an extraordinary ability to defuse tension, contain anger, and remind people of their human essence. He used humor to convey important messages. And had that particular, that we all know, contagious love,” she said.

Tributes to Tutu have been pouring in.

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden said they were “heartbroken” to learn of Tutu’s passing. “His courage and moral clarity helped inspire our commitment to change American policy toward the repressive Apartheid regime in South Africa,” the Bidens said in a statement.

“Archbishop Desmond Tutu was a mentor, a friend and a moral compass for me and so many others. A universal spirit, Archbishop Tutu was grounded in the struggle for liberation and justice in his own country, but also concerned with injustice everywhere,” said former U.S. President Barack Obama.

“I am deeply saddened to hear of the death of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He was a critical figure in the fight against apartheid and in the struggle to create a new South Africa and will be remembered for his spiritual leadership and irrepressible good humor,” said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said “Archbishop Tutu was a towering global figure for peace and an inspiration to generations across the world. During the darkest days of apartheid, he was a shining beacon for social justice, freedom and non-violent resistance.”

Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said “Archbishop Desmond Tutu was entirely dedicated to serving his brothers and sisters for the greater common good. He was a true humanitarian and a committed advocate of human rights.”

The Nelson Mandela Foundation said Tutu’s “contributions to struggles against injustice, locally and globally, are matched only by the depth of his thinking about the making of liberatory futures for human societies. He was an extraordinary human being. A thinker. A leader. A shepherd.”

After his retirement at the age of 79, Tutu continued speaking out on ethical and moral issues from xenophobia to LGBTQ+ rights to climate change.

President Ramaphosa has called him “a patriot without equal” and “a man of extraordinary intellect, integrity and invincibility.”

Details of his funeral have not yet been announced.

Tutu is survived by his wife, children, siblings and their families.

Source: Voice of America

Sudanese authorities said on Sunday that 58 police personnel had been injured during protests the previous day against military rule, and that tear gas had been used only to confront attacks on security facilities and vehicles, state TV reported.

The Khartoum security committee’s statement added that 114 people had been arrested and faced prosecution after Saturday’s protests, the latest in a series of rallies against an Oct. 25 coup that upended a transition towards democratic elections.

Medics aligned with the protest movement said earlier that violence by security forces had caused 178 injuries among demonstrators, including eight with live bullet wounds.

At least 48 people have been killed in crackdowns on protests against the coup, the medics say.

Internet and phone communications were disrupted on Saturday, and security forces fired tear gas as they blocked protesters from reaching the presidential palace.

A deal announced by the military in November to reinstate Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok has failed to stem the protests, which are calling for the military to withdraw from politics altogether.

Source: Voice of America

Authorities in eastern Congo announced an evening curfew and new security checkpoints Sunday, fearing more violence after a suicide bomber killed five people in the first attack of its kind in the region.

Beni Mayor Narcisse Muteba, a police colonel, warned hotels, churches and bars in the town of Beni that they needed to add security guards with metal detectors because “terrorists” could strike again.

“We are asking people to be vigilant and to avoid public places during this festive period,” Muteba told The Associated Press on Sunday.

Brig. Gen. Constant Ndima, the military governor of North Kivu province, said there will be a 7 p.m. curfew, as well as more road checkpoints.

Officials initially said the death toll was six plus the suicide bomber, but they revised that figure a day later to five victims. Thirteen others remained hospitalized after the blast at the entrance to the Inbox restaurant on Christmas Day.

Saturday’s bloodshed dramatically deepened fears that Islamic extremism has taken hold in Beni. The town already has suffered years of attacks by rebels from the Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF, who trace their origins to neighboring Uganda.

Officials have blamed the latest attack on those rebels, whose exact links to international extremist groups have been murky. The Islamic State’s Central Africa Province has claimed responsibility for attacks blamed on ADF, but it is unknown what role exactly the larger group may have played in organizing and financing the attacks.

There have been worrying signs that religious extremism was escalating around Beni: Two local imams were killed earlier this year within weeks of each other, one of whom had spoken out against the ADF.

Then in June, the Islamic State group’s Central Africa Province claimed responsibility for a suicide bomber who blew himself up near a bar in Beni without harming others. Another explosion that same day at a Catholic church wounded two people.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Saturday’s attack, in which authorities say the bomber ultimately was stopped from entering the crowded restaurant. After the blast near the entrance, blood stained the pavement and mangled chairs lay strewn near the entrance.

Rachel Magali, who had been at the restaurant with her sister-in-law and several others, described hearing a loud noise and then people starting to cry.

“We rushed to the exit where I saw people lying down,” she told the AP. “There were green plastic chairs scattered everywhere and I also saw heads and arms no longer attached. It was really horrible.”

Source: Voice of America