Newscast - Africa

Shanghai authorities pleaded for public cooperation with a massive new push to test most of the population for COVID-19 as the city steps up efforts to bring community transmission down to zero after nearly three weeks of lockdown.
Residents shared stories on social media about busloads of people being taken from their homes and sent into quarantine, including babies and the elderly.
Authorities are under pressure from Beijing to speed up transfers of positive cases and their close contacts to quarantine centres, fueling angst in the community about draconian measures designed to completely stop the spread of the virus rather than just slow it down.
Reuters reports that Shanghai aims to stop the spread of COVID-19 outside quarantined areas by Wednesday.

Top US envoy says North Korea must return to a diplomatic path following Pyongyang’s blitz of missile launches and growing signs it is resuming nuclear testing.
US Special Representative for North Korea Sung Kim arrived in Seoul for a five-day visit and they jointly condemned recent escalatory actions by Pyongyang, including what they said were at least three launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Kim reiterated that the United States has offered to meet Pyongyang anywhere without any preconditions saying that Washington has not closed the door on diplomacy.

The IMF says the war in Ukraine will weigh heavily upon economic growth in the eurozone as the conflict wreaks havoc on energy prices and the manufacturing sector.
The International Monetary Fund revised its eurozone growth forecast for 2022 to 2.8 per cent from 3.9 per cent in its January estimate, with the region’s biggest economy, Germany, taking a heavy hit.
The IMF’s chief economist, Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, says the forecast calls for a slowdown but no recession in the eurozone.

Mali’s ruling junta announced the delivery of two more combat helicopters and surveillance radars from Russia as the West African nation tackles a bloody jihadist insurgency.
Army chief of staff General Oumar Diarra says they are receiving this second batch of military equipment from Russia as a sign of a very fruitful partnership with the Russian state.
Russia has also supplied military instructors; personnel that former colonial power France and the United States say are operatives from Russia’s Wagner security group.

The Permanent Mission of Ethiopia to the United Nations says Ethiopia has been elected to the Executive Board of the World Food Program.
The Permanent Mission noted that they look forward to contributing to the work of the world's largest humanitarian organization in its efforts to support countries that change lives in difficult circumstances all around the world, including Ethiopia.

The UN has condemned a mortar attack on Somalia's parliament, which injured at least seven people, including bodyguards.
The Islamist militant group, al-Shabab, says it carried out the attack which happened as MPs were setting a date for the election of speakers for the upper and lower houses of parliament later this month.
The UN says it stood firm with Somalis in its efforts to complete the electoral process.

Libya’s National Oil Corporation says that a wave of protests affecting the energy sector is likely to get worse.
The corporation reports that at least four separate groups have stopped production at oil fields and energy facilities across the country.
The protesters want Libya's Tripoli-based Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah to hand power to a rival government led by Fathi Bashagha which was formed last month.
Mr Dbeibah however says he still has the mandate to govern until national elections are scheduled for June.

Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Gbenga Komolafe, says under his leadership, no marginal field operator would be allowed to trade in papers issued by the organisation.
Komolafe stated that the rule of law would be strictly followed in the issuance of final licences to the winners, stating that no amount of pressure would make the commission award final documents without due process.
Komolafe stressed that some of the 119 companies that had fully paid their bonuses were insisting that they could not raise funds without collecting the licences.

The President of the World Bank Group, David Malpass has lamented the impact of rising food and energy costs across the world, urging Nigeria and other developing countries to adjust policies to boost supply.
Malpass says he was deeply concerned about developing countries, adding that they were facing sudden price increases for energy, fertiliser, and food, and the likelihood of interest rate increases.
Malpass observed that inflation was causing immense strain globally, especially among poor nations.

Founder, Afe Babalola University Ado Ekiti, Chief Afe Babalola advised the federal government to suspend the 2023 elections and allow a 6-month interim government after President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure that would give a new constitution that would tackle insecurity, economic, political and other ills bedevilling the nation.
Babalola, says that no good leader could emerge under the current constitution.
He has also recommended a new constitution that would peg the age limit of those seeking to be president, governors and members of the National Assembly at 60.
He says 2023 remains the best opportunity to chart a new course for the