Newscast - Africa

Moderna has announced that Human clinical trials have started for an experimental HIV vaccine that uses the same kind of mRNA technology found in Moderna’s successful COVID-19 vaccine.
The company said the first vaccinations were given last Thursday, at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, DC.
They said the vaccine was designed to prompt white blood cells to turn into antibodies that could neutralise HIV.

The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors has urged the Federal Government to increase the budgetary allocation for the health sector from the subsisting 5% in the 2022 budget to a figure closer to 15% as recommended at the 2001 Abuja declaration for health financing in Africa.
The doctors say this will not only help to improve their welfare but will also contribute to reducing the brain drain experienced by health workers in the country.
The NEC also noted that the Federal Government has paid the withheld August and September 2021 salaries to its members, and also paid the 2021 Medical Residency Training Fund.

The Federal Government has reassured Nigerians of the quick return of peace to all terrorism-affected villages and communities across the country.
Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo urged Nigerians to continue to expect significant changes and improvement in the security architecture of the country, saying some measures are being put in place by the Federal Government.
Emir, HRH Abdulmumini Kabir Usman commended the Vice President for the visit which he described as historic and important especially as the problem of insecurity has become a source of concern to many.

Peruvian prosecutors are seeking to bar the president and three other executives of Spanish oil firm Repsol SA’s local refinery from leaving Peru for 18 months while an investigation into an immense oil leak is conducted.
The government said that Repsol spilled some 6,000 barrels of oil into the ocean near the La Pampilla refinery on January 15, after unusual waves were triggered by a volcanic eruption near Tonga.
Peruvian President Pedro Castillo called it the biggest ecological disaster to affect the South American nation in recent years, as more than 180 hectares of beach and 713 hectares of the sea were affected.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced a further one billion Australian dollars to protect the Great Barrier Reef and support thousands of tourism jobs, just months before a federal election.
The reef is under threat from global warming and has been a lightning rod for criticism of the ruling conservative coalition’s support for fossil fuels.
Morrison says that the investment will help protect about 64,000 jobs in Queensland that depend on the reef.

The White House says President Joe Biden has warned Ukraine’s president that there is a distinct possibility that Russia could take military action against Ukraine in February, as the United States sought an open UN Security Council meeting to discuss the crisis.
Russian officials say the dialogue was still possible to end the crisis, but Biden again offered a stark warning amid growing concerns that Russian President Vladimir Putin will give the go-ahead for a further invasion of Ukrainian territory in the not-so-distant future.
The White House says Biden’s comments to Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a phone call amplified concerns that administration officials have been making for some time.

UN agencies say food insecurity is soaring across 20 countries and regions - hunger hotspots where conflict, economic shocks, natural hazards, political instability, and limited humanitarian access, are putting millions of lives at risk, The Hunger Hotspots Report from the World Food Programme and Food and Agriculture Organization shows Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen remain the countries of highest concern.
The most recent assessments show that all four countries had areas where people were experiencing or projected to experience, starvation and death requiring the most urgent attention.
The report shows that the links between hunger and conflict are complex and far-reaching. In fact, many of the people that WFP supports are fleeing conflict and have been forced to abandon their land, homes, and jobs.

The Wall Street Journal reported in December that China intends to establish a base at Bata, a port on the Atlantic coast of Equatorial Guinea.
The Journal says that the facility would allow ships of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy to rearm and refit opposite the East Coast of the U.S.
Major General Andrew Rohling, Commander of the U.S. Army Southern European Task Force – Africa says the Biden Administration is worried that the Chinese would develop a naval base in Equatorial Guinea, which would give them a naval presence on the Atlantic.

Denmark says it will start pulling its troops out of Mali after the West African country's transitional junta government this week insisted on an immediate withdrawal.
French and European allies had previously urged Mali to let Danish troops stay, and Mali's insistence that they go is seen as a swipe against France.
Mali's transitional government says there was no approval for their deployment by the Malian authorities.

Rwanda has announced that its main border with Uganda that was closed in 2019 will reopen.
Cross-border movement of people and goods at the Gatuna/Katuna border was barred over tensions between the two East African nations.
The reopening was announced after President Yoweri Museveni's son Lieutenant General Muhoozi Kainerugaba met President Paul Kagame in Rwanda.
Rwanda had accused Uganda of arresting and deporting its citizens and supporting rebels from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda.
Uganda sacked the head of military intelligence Maj Gen Abel Kandiho who had been accused of human rights abuses.