Germany Apologizes for Leopard Jibe

The German foreign ministry had wanted to poke fun at the Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov (left) during his tour of Africa – South Africa, Eswatini, Angola and Eritrea – and they tweeted on January 24 that he wasn't there looking for leopards, but using the trip to try and justify Russia's "full-scale invasion" (actually, it's a Special Military Operation) of Ukraine. And to stress their point, they added a leopard emoji.

 

The tweet, and the 🐆 emoji played off Germany's decision to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine to help the country fight off Russian forces. But the whole thing backfired when Africans were aggrieved. 

 

An upset African Union official said the continent was being portrayed as only about wild animals. 

 

Ebba Kalondo (right), the spokesperson for AU Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat, tweeted back two days later to the German government account questioning if Africa, its people and its wildlife was “just a joke to you”? 

 

And in a follow-up tweet on the same day, she wrote: “Foreign policy is not a joke nor should it be used to score cheap geopolitical points by illustrating an entire Continent with colonial tropes”. 

 

Of course, on January 26 itself, the Krauts apologized, saying that the tweet wasn't meant to offend. 

 

Germans are being laughably childish!

200,000 Coronavirus Cases in Africa

The total number of coronavirus cases in Africa passed 200,000 yesterday, according to the World Health Organization’s office for the region. The continent had added 100,000 cases in eighteen days. 

According to the latest update by the UN health agency, 201,157 people have tested positive for the virus across the 54 countries in Africa, of whom 90,374 have recovered and 5,486 have died, the UN health agency said. 

The Top 7 African countries for confirmed cases are still the same as the list I had put out in my May 23 post (“The Covid-19 Situation in Africa”) – just that there has been a reshuffle in their positions, Nos. 3 to 7:

BTW, these seven countries constitute 72.3% of Africa’s total (or 1.9% of cases worldwide). 

Even for fatalities – where the Top 7 countries make up 81.8% of Africa’s total (or 1.1% of deaths worldwide) – it's the same seven countries as I last reported in May – except for a change in positions, Nos. 2 to 7. 

And just to compare with the Bottom 7 (i.e. the Least Affected countries):

The Covid-19 Situation in Africa

More than three months have lapsed since Egypt became the first country in Africa to confirm a coronavirus case. Since then, the outbreak has reached every nation on the continent of 1.2 billion people – with 100,666 confirmed cases and 3,105 deaths on Friday, according to Africa CDC. 

No doubt Africa recorded just a wee fraction of the world's coronavirus cases – a mere 1.9%. 

Also WHO modelling has predicted that Covid-19 would move more slowly through Africa than elsewhere. It's very comforting to know, that’s for sure.

Still, the fact remains that the virus is raging in pockets of the continent. 

And it has been hit hard by the economic fallout from global trade disruptions, falling oil and commodities prices and the lockdowns deployed to fight the disease's spread. That can be just as hurting. 

I read that the presidents of Ivory Coast, Kenya, Niger, Senegal and Sierra Leone on Tuesday are already complaining that wealthy countries are failing Africa, with pledges of financial support and debt relief falling well short of the continent's needs as it battles the coronavirus pandemic. 

But it’s not only Africa that is affected – but everywhere too.

Already, the global economy is shrinking by around 5%. According to World Bank estimates, up to 60 million people could be pushed below the poverty line in their latest apocalyptic prediction. 

World Bank president David Malpass (right) said they have so far loaned money for emergency programs in 100 countries, accounting for about 70% of the world’s population, in response to the coronavirus crisis. 

He said the money would “reinforce healthcare systems” as well as pay for medical equipment and supplies.

Many countries' economies are already in dire straits.