May 26, 2022 – Page 2 – Djibouti News Gazette

May 26, 2022

Djibouti – Monthly Price Monitoring Bulletin, Djibouti City and County Towns (May 2022)

KEY POINTS

• According to the seasonal calendar (see FEWSNET), the month of May is normally characterized by Diraac/Sugum rains and the start of fruit market gardening, however, this year it has not rained yet and the country is facing a drought. Regarding livestock, it is a month of migration within the Southeast and also the beginning of migration of livestock from central areas to the mountains. Regarding consumption, the month of May 2022 started with the Eid celebrations and the end of Ramadan.

• In terms of supply, Djibouti covers up to 90 percent of its food needs through imports as a net food importer (see FSNMS). Food needs are met by imports from neighboring countries, such as Somalia or Ethiopia, especially for vegetables and fruits; or and other distant countries, such as India or Turkey or the United Arab Emirates, in particular for main staple foods, sugar and vegetable oil. Some products, such as a brand of pasta, bread, charcoal, fagot or animals only are locally produced.

• Overall, an increase in staple food prices of 13 to 21 percent and that of sugar by 8 percent was observed in Djibouti City compared to the previous month. These prices remained stable in interior regions except in Arta where a 25 percent increase in the price of imported rice was observed. On the other hand, the price of vegetable oil has increased in interior regions with a very marked increase of 14 to 18 percent in Tadjourah and Dikhill. Current prices are at least 20 percent higher than in 2021 in the same month.

They are also well above the average of the last 5 years, especially the price of vegetable oil, with the exception of that of Ali Sabieh which remained at the average level.

• Globally, Russia and Ukraine together produce 30 percent of wheat and 20 percent of corn worldwide. 23 percent of wheat exports and 43 percent of corn exports for the 2021/2022 season, from these two countries, are immobilized due to the conflict, which does not allow the sale of products. Moreover, the weight of Russia on the world energy market is colossal: it is the third producer and second exporter of oil, and first exporter of natural gas. All of this has an impact on the delivery and prices of products imported by Djibouti (WFP, 2022).

Source: World Food Programme

May 26, 2022

US Offers $2M for Kenyans Wanted for Drug, Wildlife Trade

The United States has announced rewards of up to $1 million each for information leading to the arrest of two Kenyans wanted on charges of drug and wildlife trafficking.

Kenyan security agencies are searching for the two fugitives, Badru Abdul Aziz Saleh and Abdi Hussein Ahmed.

Speaking to reporters Thursday in Nairobi, the head of Kenya’s criminal investigation unit, George Kinoti, said the two Kenyan nationals were wanted for drug and wildlife trafficking worth millions of dollars.

“They were involved in transportation, distribution and smuggling of 190 kilograms of rhinoceros horns and 10 tons of elephant ivory from different countries in Africa, including our country, Kenya, and they transported these things to the United States,” Kinoti said. “They were also involved in transportation and distribution of one kilogram of heroin from Kenya to the United States.”

Kinoti said Saleh was arrested in June 2019 and arraigned in a Kenyan court, where he was released on bail. He was last seen in December 2019.

Kinoti made no mention of Ahmed.

Saleh and Ahmed were indicted in the United States in 2019 and the international police organization Interpol issued a red notice against the suspects.

Eric Kneedler, charge d’affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, said in a statement that eradicating drug and wildlife trafficking was a priority of President Joe Biden’s administration and that the U.S. would work with Kenya to stamp out the crimes, which are affecting both countries.

Information on the reward offer can be found on the U.S. Embassy website.

In July 2020, another suspected wildlife trafficker, Abubakar Mansur Mohammed Surur, was arrested and extradited to the U.S. Surur is believed to have been involved in the illegal poaching of at least 35 rhinos and more than 100 elephants.

Source: Voice of America

May 26, 2022

More than 200 cases of monkeypox worldwide: EU disease agency

STOCKHOLM— The number of confirmed cases of monkeypox worldwide has reached 219 outside of countries where it is endemic, according to an update released by the European Union’s disease agency.

More than a dozen countries where monkeypox is unusual, mostly in Europe, have reported at least one confirmed case, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said in an epidemiological note released Wednesday.

“This is the first time that chains of transmission are reported in Europe without known epidemiological links to West or Central Africa, where this disease is endemic,” the note said.

It added that most of the cases were detected in young men, self-identifying as men who have sex with men.

The United Kingdom – where monkeypox’s unusual appearance was first detected in early May – currently has the largest bulk of confirmed cases, 71.

It is followed by Spain with 51 cases and Portugal, 37.

Outside of Europe, Canada has 15 and the United States has nine.

The total number of cases reported Wednesday has increased fivefold since its first count on May 20, when the EU agency said there were 38 cases.

Contagion risk is “very low”, the ECDC said earlier this week, but warned that people who have had multiple sexual partners – regardless of sexual orientation – are more at risk.

“The clinical presentation is generally described to be mild,” it said, adding that there has been no deaths.

Monkeypox – a less severe disease compared to its cousin smallpox – is endemic in 11 countries in West and Central Africa.

It spreads by a bite or direct contact with an infected animal’s blood, meat or bodily fluids, and initial symptoms include a high fever before quickly developing into a rash.

People infected with it also get a chickenpox-like rash on their hands and face.

No treatment exists but the symptoms usually clear up after two to four weeks, and it is not usually fatal.

Maria Van Kerkhove, the emerging disease lead for the World Health Organization, said Monday that monkeypox is a “containable situation”.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

May 26, 2022

Cameroon: Cholera kills 140 people in seven months

YAOUNDE— A spike in cholera in Cameroon has killed 140 people since October last year, Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute said.

“The updated epidemiological situation report shows a total of 7,287 notified cases, including 140 deaths, since October 2021,” he said in a statement.

“Three regions continue to record new patients,” he added, referring to the Littoral region, the West region, and the English-speaking Southwest region.

A vaccination campaign is to start in June, the government has said.

Cholera is an acute form of diarrhoea that is treatable with antibiotics and hydration but can kill within hours if left untreated.

Outbreaks occur periodically in Cameroon, a west African nation of more than 25 million inhabitants. The last epidemic occurred between January and August 2020, when 66 people died.

Cholera is caused by a germ that is typically transmitted by poor sanitation. People become infected when they swallow food or water carrying the bug.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said in early 2021 there were between 1.3 and four million cases of cholera per year around the world, leading to between 21,000 and 143,000 deaths.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK