27 March 2020; AFP: South Africa came under a nationwide military-patrolled lockdown on Friday, joining other African countries imposing strict curfews and shutdowns in an attempt to halt the spread of the coronavirus across the continent.
Some 57 million people are to be restricted to their homes during South Africa's three-week total lockdown which began at midnight.
27 March 2020; AFP: It was the promise of oil -- billions of barrels of black gold, discovered locked beneath Lake Albert -- and the riches to follow that brought electricity to Buliisa.
Roads, piped water, and other unthinkable luxuries came next, as the poor farming village on the great lake's northern shores transformed into a booming frontier town, and Uganda braced for newfound prosperity as an African oil giant.
But those fortunes never transpired.
Harare, Mar 27 (AFP/PTI) Zimbabwe has re-introduced the use of foreign currency for domestic transactions in what was seen as a bid to tap into private forex savings as the country gears up for the battle against the novel coronavirus.
In a statement the central bank governor John Mangudya said the move is part of "measures to mitigate the devastating impact of COVID-19 on the Zimbabwean society and the economy".
ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria has appealed to private companies to make voluntary contributions toward the 120 billion naira ($330 million) that the government says it needs to fight the coronavirus epidemic.
“So far, the federal government has made giant strides in the fight but it is clear that the private sector needs to step in and support efforts already being made,” Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele said.
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.
MAPUTO, March 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Insurgents have attacked a second town in the gas-rich northern province in Mozambique where foreign companies are working on a $60bn natural gas project.
The militants attacked the town of Quissanga at dawn on Wednesday, two days after they attacked Mocimboa de Praia town in the province of Cabo Delgado.
The district police headquarters was raided and destroyed during the attack, a police officer said.
NAIROBI/JOHANNESBURG, March 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Each morning at a crowded bus station east of Nairobi, Kenyans load their bags on to minibuses emblazoned with the faces of pop stars and Jesus, heading to their villages in the hope of escaping the coronavirus.
“I am going back home because of corona,” said Amina Barasa, her yellow headscarf standing out in the dark bus. The electronics shop where she worked had shut, she said, and she was going to stay with her family away from the city crowds.
DAR ES SALAAM, March 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Tanzanian President John Magufuli has said the general elections planned for October, in which he is expected to seek re-election, will go on despite the coronavirus outbreak.
He said there is also no reason for citizens to stop working.
“Work has to go on and that’s why even parliament is moving on with its schedule,” the Citizen newspaper quotes him as saying.
Magufuli recently said gatherings in churches and mosques have not been banned yet despite a coronavirus outbreak because that’s where “there is true healing.”
ADDIS ABABA, Marc h 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — More than 4,000 prisoners will be released in Ethiopia as the government continues to take measures to control the spread of Coronavirus.
The country’s attorney general said that prisoners convicted of minor offences and women with babies were among those who would be freed.
Foreigners charged with involvement in with smuggling and drug trafficking would also be released and deported to their countries of origin.
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.
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