Africa 54 - January 30, 2020

Top Stories:

As the death toll from the Corona-virus jumped to at least 132, U.S. based pharmaceutical giant Johnson and Johnson works on developing a vaccine to stop the outbreak that has infected thousands in China. The company says the vaccine program would utilize the same technologies used to make its experimental Ebola vaccine, which is currently being administered in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization expected to decide whether to designate the Corona-virus outbreak as a global health emergency, some countries, however, are already taking action. New travel warnings are telling people to avoid non-essential travel to China.

The commander of the U.S. Africa Command, Army General Stephen Townsend, says the U.S. is currently dealing with China and Russia’s influence on the continent as well as confronting the al-Qaida terrorist group. General Townsend comments came during his testimony before the U.S. Senate armed services committee, amid reports that the U.S. plans to withdraw from Africa.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, local officials and civil society leaders say suspected Islamist militants killed at least 30 people overnight. The Allied Democratic Forces, a Ugandan Islamist group, operating in western Beni territory, which has seen a surge of violence since October 30, 2019, raided four villages in eastern Congo.

A54 Business: Farmers in Madagascar’s Itasy province are harvesting a specialist coffee enhanced by bat spit in what may be the first time such coffee has been commercially produced in Africa.

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