News & Analysis: Security impact
“Botswana’s president will miss a Southern African regional meeting he had been due to chair on Thursday to discuss recent attacks on Mozambique after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19, prompting him to self-quarantine, his office said on Tuesday.”
“COVID-19 may have increased the risk of electoral violence in four key ways: facilitating clampdowns on political opposition, fueling the proliferation of disinformation, worsening economic fragility and delaying elections.”
“Across the region, the devastating impact of armed conflict in countries such as Ethiopia, Mozambique, Cameroon, and Nigeria, was compounded by the pandemic as a number of states weaponized it to crack down on human rights. The crackdowns included killings of civilians and arrests of opposition politicians and supporters and human rights defenders and activists in countries such as Angola, Guinea, and Uganda.”
“The COVID-19 social relief of distress grant has exposed long-standing challenges at payment sites across the country, especially in rural areas where recipients are exploited and paypoints are not in good condition and robbed routinely.”
“The Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) says armed conflict and the coronavirus pandemic have seriously damaged the economies of the six member-countries and put a halt to regional integration. The economic block, one of the least developed on the African continent, marked its 27th anniversary this week in Cameroon.”
“The Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation has condemned the Malawi Police for beating up people in markets, depots and on the streets under the guise of enforcing COVID-19 measures.”
“Zimbabwe’s acting president, Kembo Mohadi, says the country’s state security agents will enforce strict COVID-19 regulations introduced Saturday following the death of 29 people in the past week and 1,342 new infections.”
“Although confirmed cases have decreased significantly in recent months, relatively few tests are carried out in CAR, leaving the real extent of the pandemic in the country only partially known. The outbreak of election-related violence aggravated the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Schools were closed again in mid-December.”
“Death rates represent only a sliver of the pandemic’s unseen impacts on fragile livelihoods, socioeconomically vulnerable groups like migrants and women, and other efforts at democratisation in the Horn.”
“COVID-19 has exacerbated human rights violations related to health, including stigma, discrimination, gender-based violence and police brutality. In some countries, vulnerable groups have been turned into scapegoats for the new pandemic.”
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