South Sudan Gets new Coalition Government

Associated Press JUBA, South Sudan (AP) -  South Sudan has opened a new chapter in its fragile emergence from civil war with rival leaders forming a coalition government. Opposition leader Riek Machar was sworn in Saturday as the deputy of President Salva Kiir, a day after the previous government was dissolved. That power arrangement between Kiir and Machar twice collapsed in fighting during the conflict that began in 2013 and killed nearly 400,000 people. Numerous attempts at peace in South Sudan have failed. Intense international pressure has followed the most recent peace deal in 2018. The rivals met the latest deadline to form the government.

Fire at Haitian Orphanage Kills 15 Babies and Toddlers

 PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -  Officials say a fire swept through a Haitian children's home run by a Pennsylvania-based religious nonprofit group, killing 15 children. A child-care worker at the home told The Associated Press that the fire began around 9 p.m. Thursday and firefighters took about 90 minutes to arrive. She said the orphanage had been using candles for light due to problems with its generator. Late Friday afternoon, police raided another home also run by the Church of Bible Understanding and took away several dozen children in a bus over protests from employees. The Associated Press has reported on a long-standing series of problems at children's homes run by the group.

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Africa Braces for Coronavirus

Crowded hospital in Uganda

LUSAKA, Zambia — At a Chinese-run hospital in Zambia, some employees watched as people who recently returned from China showed up with coughs but were not placed in isolation. A doctor tending to those patients has stopped coming to work, and health workers have been ordered not to speak publicly about the new virus that has killed hundreds around the world.

The virus that has spread through much of China has yet to be confirmed in Africa, but global health authorities are increasingly worried about the threat to the continent where an estimated 1 million Chinese now live, as some health workers on the ground warn they are not ready to handle an outbreak.

Countries are racing to take precautions as hundreds of travelers arrive from China every day. Safeguards include stronger surveillance at ports of entry and improved quarantine and testing measures across Africa, home to 1.2 billion people and some of the world’s weakest systems for detecting and treating disease

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Ethiopian Airlines Cuts flights to China

Ethiopian Airlines Plene

Globally, coronavirus has claimed 725 lives with almost all deaths occurring in mainland China. The disease has also been detected in 24 other countries, most times involving people who traveled to China. While to date there have been no confirmed cases in Africa, the risk of an outbreak remains high.

Amidst rising criticism of Ethiopian Airlines’ continued flights to and from China, the airline has cut down its February weekly flights from Addis to Beijing, Chengdu, Guanzhou and Shanghai by 33%. It has also changed its aircrafts on the Addis to Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai routes from Boeing 777 and A350 to Boeing 787-8 resulting in a 20%-45% change in capacity on the different flights.

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Tanzania Government Not Officially Notified about U.S. Travel Ban

Map of Tanzania

Tanzania says has not been officially notified about U.S. Travel Ban

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - Tanzania said on Saturday it had not been officially notified by the United States about a travel ban after it was targeted alongside five other countries by President Donald Trump’s expanded travel restrictions on Friday.

Of the six new countries slapped with travel restrictions, four are African nations and three have Muslim-majority populations.

“We don’t have official communication from the U.S. government. We haven’t received a formal diplomatic communication, which is the official way of communicating between governments,” Emmanuel Buhohela, spokesman for the ministry of foreign affairs, told Reuters.

U.S. Democrats and immigration advocates have accused the Trump administration of seeking to expand its original 2017 ban that targeted Muslim-majority countries and of disproportionately focusing on African countries.

Tanzania also has a sizeable Muslim population.

Under the new travel restrictions, the United States will stop issuing “diversity visas” to Tanzanian nationals. The visas are available by lottery for applicants from countries with low rates of immigration.

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