Kenya

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A police officer in Somalia’s capital has been arrested in the fatal shooting of at least one civilian while enforcing coronavirus restrictions, fellow officer Ahmed Muse said Saturday.

The shooting Friday evening sparked protests in Mogadishu that continued Saturday with crowds of angry young men burning tires and demanding justice.

There has been growing anger among some residents over alleged abuses by security forces, including beatings, while enforcing virus-related restrictions.

NAIROBI, April 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A Kenyan court charged a senior regional government official with wilfully spreading the novel coronavirus by going out in public without taking precautions, an accusation he denied.

Kenya, which has 179 confirmed cases and six deaths from the coronavirus, has banned all public gatherings and limited the number of mourners at funerals.

NAIROBI, April 9 (Xinhua) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday sounded alarm over the rapid spread of COVID-19 to rural parts of Africa hence threatening to put a strain on an already fragile health care infrastructure.

Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, said the spread of the viral disease from capital cities to rural areas in the continent should be addressed as a matter of urgency to prevent a public health crisis.

NAIROBI, April 1 (Xinhua)--The African Development Bank (AfDB) said Wednesday it has approved around 208 million Kenyan shillings (about 2 million U.S. dollars) in emergency assistance for the World Health Organization (WHO) to strengthen its capacity to help African countries contain the COVID-19 pandemic and mitigate its impacts.

AfDB said WHO Africa region will use the funds to bolster the capacity of 41 African countries on infection prevention, testing and case management.

NAIROBI, April 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Panic over the global coronavirus pandemic has led to discrimination of foreigners in East Africa.

From Ethiopia, to Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Westerners have been verbally and physically abused over fears that they may be infected with Covid-19, the respiratory illness caused by the virus.

This is because many of the first cases of the virus reported in the region, were brought in by travellers from Europe and the US.

NAIROBI, March 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Kenya’s lower parliamentary chamber wants some 50 lawmakers to be tested for coronavirus amid fears they may have contracted the virus from a member who recently tested positive.

Local media reports say the parliament has submitted the names of MPs and parliamentary staff it wants tested to the health ministry. It wants them placed on mandatory quarantine as well.

NAIROBI, March 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The German authorities have said they do not have to pay for the six million face masks the government ordered but that went missing from an airport in Kenya.

The shipment was due in Germany on March 20 but never arrived after disappearing at the end of last week, Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine reported.

The German embassy in Kenya tweeted on Thursday that they had agreed to pay upon delivery so they would not be paying.

NAIROBI, March 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Farmers in Kenya’s South Rift region are grappling with new swarms of desert locusts.

They are worried that the invasion could lead to major losses and hunger, given that aerial spraying of the insects has been put on hold in some places due to the Coronavirus crisis.

On Sunday, large swarms were spotted in Mukinyai Farm in Elburgon, Nakuru County, and just two days later the Samburu County government raised the alarm that the swarms had tripled in just a week.

LAMU, Kenya, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan soldiers on Saturday repulsed an attack by suspected al-Shabab terrorists who tried to force their way into a construction camp at Milihoi area, a renowned terror hotspot along the coastal Lamu-Garsen road.

Lamu county police commander Moses Murithi said on Sunday the camp belongs to the H-Young company that is currently undertaking the construction of the 135km stretch road.

Murithi said a group of over ten armed militants was however successfully repulsed by the Kenya Defense Force (KDF) soldiers in a daring raid at around 9 am.

NAIROBI, March 14 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan and Guinea all confirmed their first cases of the new coronavirus on Friday, giving the disease a foothold in 18 countries on the African continent.

Africa had so far largely been spared the rapid spread of COVID-19, which has infected at least 127,000 and killed 4,700 worldwide.

Most of Africa’s reported cases were foreigners or people who had travelled abroad. Rapid testing and quarantines have been put in place to limit transmission.