You are watching Africa 54, your daily news and feature magazine-style program, from the Voice of America. Host Esther Githui-Ewart and a team of correspondents zero in on the big stories making news on the continent and around the world with context and analysis.
Top Stories:
The fighting in Ethiopia’s Tigray and Amhara regions continues Tuesday, trucks packed with armed militia and pick-ups mounted with machine gun are rushing to the frontline of a conflict some fear could escalate into a full-blown civil war.
The United Nations talks on Libya’s future are underway Tuesday in Tunisia. The discussions that opened Monday are aimed at ending nearly a decade of chaos and bloodshed by arranging elections — but obstacles remain despite progress in cementing last month’s ceasefire. Acting U.N. Libya envoy Stephanie Williams is describing it as the best opportunity in six years to end the turmoil and warfare that have plagued the north African oil exporting country since 2011. The talks, held among 75 participants chosen by the U.N. to represent an array of political viewpoints, regional interests and social groups, come as the main warring sides discuss how to implement a truce, they agreed to in Geneva. Libya has been split since 2014 between rival factions in the west, held by the internationally recognized government of national accord and the east, home to Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army.
Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara has won a third term with 94-percent of the vote, final results showed Monday, after an election that opposition parties boycotted — and dismissed as illegal. Main opposition figures are facing criminal charges after denouncing the October 31st vote and creating a rival government in protest. Ouattara, however, signaled Monday evening that he was open to dialogue with the opposition to enable calm to return to the world’s top cocoa growing nation following violent protests before and after the election. Ouattara has invited former President Henri Konan Bedie for a meeting in the coming days. Bedie had sided with the opposition in boycotting the election and forming the parallel government.
Six Nigerians are facing prison terms of ten years to life after a federal appeals court in the United Arab Emirates upheld their convictions for funding the terrorist group Boko Haram. According to the daily trust newspaper, the accused were initially tried and convicted last year following their arrest in 2017. The court in Abu Dhabi on Monday sentenced Surajo Abubakar Muhammad and Saleh Yusuf Adamu to life in prison. Four others were each given a ten-year sentence. The newspaper reported the court judgement said that between 2015 and 2016, the accused transferred $782-thousand dollars from Dubai to Nigeria to benefit Boko Haram even as associates defended their actions, saying there was nothing criminal about the transaction.
A new researcher published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism found that 80-percent of 216 COVID-19 patients at a University Hospital in Spain had vitamin D deficiency. Men had lower vitamin D levels than women. COVID-19 patients with lower vitamin D levels also had raised serum levels of inflammatory markers. In another research by Northwestern University, scientists analyzed data from ten countries and found, patients with severe vitamin d deficiencies were twice as likely to suffer complications from COVID. For more on the importance of vitamin D and the coronavirus, Africa 54 health correspondent Linord Moudou spoke with Dr. Ken Redcross.
Experts caution that more research needs to be done regarding the effects of vitamin D on COVID-19. A new documentary called “In Case of Emergency” is the product of seven years of interviewing, photographing and filming nurses across America. As Karina Bafradzhian reports, the film explores the challenges faced by frontline healthcare workers in America.
The campaign of U.S. President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit Monday in a Pennsylvania federal court, seeking to block state officials from certifying president-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the state. The lawsuit, brought by the campaign and two registered voters, alleges that Pennsylvania’s mail-in voting system lacked all the hallmarks of transparency and verifiability that were present for in-person voters. r alleged election irregularities and judges have already tossed cases in Georgia and Michigan.
World leaders have been giving their reactions to the victory of Joe Biden in the U.S. presidential election. But, as Henry Ridgwell reports from London, some U.S. rivals including China and Russia are awaiting the outcome of legal challenges to the result.
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