Day: January 15, 2023

LILONGWE, The cholera outbreak in Malawi, the worst in two decades, has reached the grim mark of 750 deaths.

According to Malawi’s Health Minister, cases continue to rise across the country despite some encouraging signs in some areas.

“We continue to record rising number of cases across the country, despite signs of reduced transmission and deaths in a few areas. We would like to commend those that are availing themselves for treatment”, said Malawi Health Minister, Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda.

The cholera outbreak was declared in March last year. So far, the authorities recorded almost 23,000 cases.

“We received 2.9 million dosages of the cholera vaccine, but as we speak, we have about 40 thousand left. It means Malawians availed themselves for the vaccine. What is worrying however is that those that received the vaccine are not the ones at high risk. Those that are in high risk are proving difficult to convince to take the vaccine”, added the Minister.

According to Africa CDC, the continent’s largest public health body, 14 African countries are reporting cholera cases, many of which are due to flooding across the continent. — NNN-AFRICANEWS

Source: Nam News Network

The U.S. military’s new, expanded combat training of Ukrainian forces began in Germany on Sunday, with a goal of getting a battalion of about 500 troops back on the battlefield to fight the Russians in the next five to eight weeks, said Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Milley, who plans to visit the Grafenwoehr training area on Monday to get a first-hand look at the program, said the troops being trained left Ukraine a few days ago. In Germany is a full set of weapons and equipment for them to use.

Until now the Pentagon had declined to say exactly when the training would start.

The so-called combined arms training is aimed at honing the skills of the Ukrainian forces so they will be better prepared to launch an offensive or counter any surge in Russian attacks. They will learn how to better move and coordinate their company- and battalion-size units in battle, using combined artillery, armor and ground forces.

Speaking to two reporters traveling with him to Europe on Sunday, Milley said the complex training — combined with an array of new weapons, artillery, tanks and other vehicles heading to Ukraine — will be key to helping the country’s forces take back territory that has been captured by Russia in the nearly 11-month-old war.

“This support is really important for Ukraine to be able to defend itself,” Milley said. “And we’re hoping to be able to pull this together here in short order.”

The goal, he said, is for all the incoming weapons and equipment to be delivered to Ukraine so that the newly trained forces will be able to use it “sometime before the spring rains show up. That would be ideal.”

The new instruction comes as Ukrainian forces face fierce fighting in the eastern Donetsk province, where the Russian military has claimed it has control of the small salt-mining town of Soledar. Ukraine asserts that its troops are still fighting, but if Moscow’s troops take control of Soledar it would allow them to inch closer to the bigger city of Bakhmut, where fighting has raged for months.

Russia also launched a widespread barrage of missile strikes, including in Kyiv, the northeastern city of Kharkiv and the southeastern city of Dnipro, where the death toll in one apartment building rose to 30.

Milley said he wants to make sure the training is on track and whether anything else is needed, and also ensure that it will line up well with the equipment deliveries.

The program will include classroom instruction and field work that will begin with small squads and gradually grow to involve larger units. It would culminate with a more complex combat exercise bringing an entire battalion and a headquarters unit together.

Until now, the U.S. focus has been on providing Ukrainian forces with more immediate battlefield needs, particularly on how to use the wide array of Western weapons systems pouring into the country.

The U.S. has already trained more than 3,100 Ukrainian troops on how to use and maintain certain weapons and other equipment, including howitzers, armored vehicles and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, known as HIMARS. Other nations are also conducting training on the weapons they provide.

In announcing the new program last month, Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said the idea “is to be able to give them this advanced level of collective training that enables them to conduct effective combined arms operations and maneuver on the battlefield.”

Milley said the U.S. was doing this type of training prior to the Russian invasion last February. But once the war began, U.S. National Guard and special operations forces that were doing training inside Ukraine all left the country. This new effort, which is being done by U.S. Army Europe Africa’s 7th Army Training Command, will be a continuation of what they had been doing prior to the invasion. Other European allies are also providing training.

Source: Voice of America

China’s chief diplomat was in Cairo Sunday for talks with Egyptian and Arab League officials, marking his last stop in a multi-leg trip to Africa that aims to consolidate Beijing’s footprint across the resource-rich continent.

Foreign Minister Qin Gang met separately with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit. He also met with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry.

In a joint news conference, Foreign Minister Shoukry said the talks addressed Sino-Egyptian relations and increasing Chinese tourism to the Middle Eastern country, which has for years struggled to revive its vital tourism sector.

Both ministers said they also discussed regional issues including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Tensions have risen after the return to office last month of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is heading Israel’s most right-wing and religiously conservative government.

Responding to a Chinese reporter’s question, Qin urged Israel to “stop incitements and provocations, and to refrain from taking uniliteral actions that could worsen the situation.”

He also called for “maintaining the status quo” at Jerusalem’s most important holy site, after an ultranationalist Israeli Cabinet minister visited it earlier this year. That visit drew fierce condemnation from across the Muslim world and a strong rebuke from the United States.

The aspirations for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state must not be rejected, and the international community must adhere to the two-state solution and adhere to the principle of land for peace, according to the Chinese foreign minister.

In his meeting with el-Sissi, the Chinese foreign minister said Beijing would continue to develop its investment in Egypt’s infrastructure projects including those with links to China’s Belt and Road initiative.

China has invested billions of dollars in Egyptian state-led projects such as the Suez Canal Economic Zone and the new administrative capital, which is being built east of Cairo.

Qin arrived in Cairo Saturday afternoon. His weeklong trip included Ethiopia, where the African Union headquarters is located, as well as Gabon, Angola and Benin. It was Qin’s first overseas trip since his appointment in December.

His Africa tour came a month after President Joe Biden hosted dozens of African leaders in Washington, pledging government funding and private investment to help the continent develop in the fields of health, infrastructure, business and technology.

For more than three decades, China’s foreign ministers have started their terms by visiting Africa, whose growing population as a continent rivals China’s. Beijing has invested heavily in infrastructure in African countries, including roads, energy infrastructure, telecommunications, railways, and hospitals.

The Chinese financial groups and funds also gave out $160 billion in loans to Africa between 2000 and 2020, according to the Chinese Loans to Africa Database. Qin said last week China has been Africa’s largest trading partner for the past 13 years, with mutual trade expected to exceed $260 billion in 2022.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, China raced to provide vaccines to Africa, which received only 1% of global COVID-19 vaccine supplies. China also funded the construction of a new headquarters for the African Center for Disease Control in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. The new center was opened last week during Qin’s visit.

Source: Voice of America