You are watching Africa 54, your daily news and feature magazine-style program, from the Voice of America. Host Esther Githui-Ewart and a team of correspondents zero in on the big stories making news on the continent and around the world with context and analysis.
Top Stories:
Mali’s military junta which staged a coup last week has announced that it plans to release ousted President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and aims to rule for three years as part of a transitional government. However, international observers fear instability in Mali could spread across west Africa and say a military-led rule isn’t a way forward. VOA’s Mariama Diallo spoke to international observers and VOA’s Salem Solomon spoke to former U.S. ambassador to Mali Vicki Huddleston.
After a spate of killings in Nigeria’s southern Kaduna state, Christian villages upset with a lack of security began standing up to Muslim attackers by establishing their own patrols. The lightly trained guards, armed with whistles and sticks, staff strategic spots to keep watch and announce any unusual movement in their communities.
Three-hundred twenty doctors employed by Kenya’s Nairobi county government are back on the job Thursday after striking for six days primarily over slow salary payment and a lack of protective equipment needed to care for patients who may have contracted COVID-19. Thuranira Kaugiria, Nairobi county secretary general of the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union, says doctors agreed to return to work after signing an agreement with the county government that promises to pay doctors on the fifth day of every month, provide doctors with two isolation facilities in the event that they contract COVID-19 and equip doctors with adequate supplies of high-grade personal protective equipment.
When Ghana closed schools in mid-March because of the coronavirus, they quickly had to pivot to remote learning using online lessons and educational tv shows. For the youngest learners, Ghana’s government has partnered with USAID to provide a radio learning program for millions of students.
Several months into the coronavirus pandemic, doctors are still trying to pinpoint why patients react differently to the virus. For Stephen Donelson who survived COVID-19, the battle isn’t over as he continues to struggle with some basic functions.
U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence accepted the nomination for a second term in office as Republicans met for a third day in a mostly virtual national convention. Mike O’Sullivan reports that, amid civil unrest in many American cities, Pence offered an upbeat message with warnings about his Democratic party opponents.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign has made “law and order” a central theme of this week’s Republican national convention, denouncing racial justice protests as demonstrations by radical mobs. VOA’s Brian Padden reports on what trump supporters see as a growing threat to public safety and why his opponents say trump is politicizing the crisis.
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