Separatist Movement leader Salif Sadio, the man at the helm of the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC) has accused the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) of transforming The Gambia into a battleground to fight his separatist movement. An action which he says has grave consequences.

According to Sadio the reason why he chose to stand down during the recent shootout with Senegalese forces is because children had to go to school. These children he said he considers his children and their parents his people.

He warned the Gambian Government to desist from interfering in engagements between his movement and Senegal forces to avoid the death of innocent civilians mostly Gambians.

“Your army and their uniforms do not faze me. There is only one thing in war, you either kill or you are killed. War is an art to me, and I am not afraid of it. Tell Gambia I said this must not be repeated. I stood down this time, but I won’t next time it happens. I will kill even if my wife or child is there. This fight is between me and Senegal,” he said sternly.

The Casamance conflict is an ongoing low-level conflict that has been waged between the Government of Senegal and the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC) since 1982. On May 1, 2014, the leader of the MFDC sued for peace and declared a unilateral ceasefire.

The MFDC has called for the independence of the Casamance region, whose population is religiously and ethnically distinct from the rest of Senegal. The bloodiest years of the conflict were during the 1992–2001 period and resulted in over a thousand battle-related deaths.

By :Sarjo Brito

Citizen journalist and PDOIS stalwart Kexx Sanneh has launched his bid to contest the forthcoming National Assembly Election in April 2022. Kexx Sanneh will be contesting the Niamina West Constituency seat under the ticket of the People’s Democratic Organization for Independence and Socialism (PDOIS) Party. Sanneh in an official Facebook message revealed to his followers that his candidacy has been approved by the Party following his application to the Party’s Regional Coordinator.

‘’Following my application to the Regional Coordinator of my party, the PDOIS, expressing my interest to contest for the seat of National Assembly Member for Niamina West Constituency, the party has finally endorsed my candidacy. Fellow citizens, by this notice, I hereby offer myself to the people of Niamina West Constituency as their candidate for the 2022 Parliamentary Election.’’

According to Sanneh the country must do away with a rubberstamp parliament and elect people who must be prepared to speak truth to power.

‘’The Parliament needs representatives that are bold enough to speak truth to power, and patriotic enough to always put personal interest behind and put forward the national interest for our collective progress. Like my party and its Members of Parliament have proven over the past five years, there is absolutely no doubt that I will always put the interest of our beloved country ahead,’’ he said.

‘’I am ready to execute my social contract duties between my country, its people and I. I am convinced, at least at a personal level, that I have the knowledge, ability, and experience to represent the people of Niamina West and The Gambia at large,’’ he said.

‘’To state for history and future references; I do not intend to go to the Parliament because of personal rewards, the title or privileges attached to it, but to be part of the crucial task of serving the Gambians, and shaping my society through the enactment of laws, ratification of agreement, approval or disapproval of loans and grant and holding government accountable to and for the people in the SUPREME of our NOBLE NATION.’’

The current National Assembly member occupying the Niamina West seat is NPP’s Birom Sowe. Birom won the highly contested Niamina West by-election between Barrow’s NPP and Mama Kandeh’s Gambia Democratic Congress in November 2020. Birom Sowe won the seat in a landslide victory, becoming the first NPP National Assembly member.

First Lady of Sierra Leone, Madam Fatima Bio has said her husband the President Julius Maada Bio is so concerned and passionate about the protection of girls to a point that their safety and security overrides his interest for the presidency.

She made the statement during a courtesy call paid to her at her office in Freetown by the British High Commissioner to Sierra Leone, Lisa Chesney on Wednesday 2 January 2022.

“My husband values the protection of the girl child more than even his position as the President” she disclosed, while describing him as the champion for women’s empowerment and girl child welfare.”

The visiting High Commissioner was interested in learning more about the activities of the First Lady and the latter comprehensively updated her guest.

Mrs. Bio described her three years in office as challenging but fulfilling.

She narrated the challenges associated with leading a campaign in Africa against early marriage, rape and women’s empowerment, while saluting her husband, President Bio, for the selfless support he continues to offer.

The President, she said, has been selfless is creating the enabling environment and providing the required support for the empowerment campaigns to thrive.

The Hands Off Our Girls Campaign, she said, is not only creating a safe environment for the girls but equally educating them about their rights and responsibilities.

According to the First Lady, the campaign, with support from partners and stakeholders including the traditional leaders, have reached every corner of Sierra Leone.

She also spoke on the impact the campaign has had on the hygiene of the girl child, with introduction of the Sanitary Pad distribution and education.

The Sanitary Pad campaign, has immensely supported the free quality education initiative as girls don’t miss out on classes anymore because of lack of Sanitary Pads. She further spoke of the impressive performance of girls on all public exams.

She further updated the High Commissioner about the massive progress being made in the construction of an ultra one-stop-center hospital complex at the 34 Military Hospital. modern one-stop-center hospital complex at the 34 Military Hospital.

The complex, she said, will have a 500-bed hospital, safe home, nursing school, administrative building and structures housing various line institutions.

Responding, the British High Commissioner to Sierra Leone, Lisa Chesney said she was excited and motivated to learn about the work of the First Lady.

She urged the First Lady to continue with her good work and keep the girl child in school.

“I am very much impressed with the positive progress you have made in protecting the girl child and empowering women,” she noted, while pointing out however that more needs to be done.

She assured Mrs. Bio that the High Commission would be happy to collaborate with the Office of the First Lady on shared interests.

By: Christian Conteh

Another tragic loss of life has occurred in the West African Country of Sierra Leone due to the age-old traditional practice of female genital mutilation (FGM). This has served as a rallying call for women’s rights organisations across the country and around the world to call for laws that will put an end to the practice for good.

The campaigners have together co-signed an open letter calling on the Government of Sierra Leone to criminalize FGM and protect women and girls from this harmful practice.

The story indicates that on 20th December 2021, 21-year-old Maseray died from acute bleeding and shock a day after being subjected to FGM, an allegation that was confirmed by the post-mortem carried out on 14th January.

‘It is now widely acknowledged that [FGM] functions as a self-enforcing social convention or social norm. In societies where it is practised it is a socially upheld behavioural rule. Families and individuals uphold the practice because they believe that their group or society expects them to do so. Abandonment of the practice requires a process of social change that results in new expectations on families.’ -The General Assembly of the United Nations

Shortly after Maseray’s death, a 15-year-old girl was admitted to hospital for urgent treatment after suffering serious complications due to FGM. These are not isolated incidents in Sierra Leone. Many women and girls in recent years have died or experienced devastating harm as a result of FGM.

Sierra Leone has one the highest FGM prevalence rates in Africa, with 83% of women and girls aged between 15 and 49 years having undergone the procedure according to the 2019 Demographic Health Survey.

Female genital mutilation (sometimes called female genital cutting and female genital mutilation/cutting) (FGM) is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as comprising ‘all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injuries to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.’

FGM is a form of gender-based violence and has been recognised as a harmful practice and a violation of the human rights of girls and women. At least 200 million girls and women alive today have had FGM in the 28 African countries where FGM is practised.

FGM has been branded and internationally acknowledged as a gross human rights violation. It involves procedures that see the partial or total removal of the external regions of the female genitalia for non-medical reasons.

FGM is known to have no health benefits and has serious, immediate and long-term physical and psychological health consequences, which can be severe, including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, and reduced sexual desire or satisfaction. Babies born to women who have experienced FGM suffer higher rates of neonatal death and mothers can experience obstetric complications and fistulae. The right groups in Sierra Leone have called for an urgent enactment and enforcement of a comprehensive anti-FGM law in an open letter.

The signatories of this open letter call on the Government of Sierra Leone, H.E. President Julius Maada Bio and Attorney General Mohamed Lamin Tarawalley Esq. to urgently enact a law that explicitly bans FGM for all ages, put in place adequate measures to protect against and eliminate FGM and give survivors and the families of victims a means to access justice.

The signatories include A Girl At A Time Sierra Leone, A Well Informed Adolescent (AWA) Initiative (Nigeria), Aberdeen Women’s Centre (Scotland), African Women Rights Advocates (regional), Amazonian Initiative Movement (AIM) (Sierra Leone), AMFE (Association pour le Maintien des Filles à l’École) (Senegal), Arab Women Organization of Jordan (AWO) and Association Beogo-Neere (Burkina Faso) among several other organisations the world over.

Tanzania’s Education Minister Adolf Mkenda says the government’s decision to allow students to continue with their education after giving birth does not mean they can bring their babies into class.

His comments come after the BBC featured a teenage mother in Mbeya region being allowed to bring her four month old into school this week.

Esnath Gideon, 19, was pictured with her daughter on her lap at a desk. She told the BBC she had no choice as there was no-one to take care of her child at home.

But Prof Mkenda said having babies in the classroom would disturb other students.

Schoolgirls in Tanzania who became pregnant used to be expelled from school and not allowed back. This 19-year-old directive was revoked last December – and has led to several teenage mothers returning to finish their education.

Some of them have enrolled under a programme known as Alternative Education Pathway, which is said to be more flexible.

A solution to Ms Gideon’s problem has been proposed to the government as part of recommendations by education experts looking into the return of teenage mothers into education.

They suggest setting up baby day care centres for those unable to find alternative help, an education educator told the BBC.

BBC

Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Mambury Njie has confirmed that the Government of the Gambia expended a total of Twenty Billion Eight Hundred Thirty Million Dalasi in 2021.

The Minister made the disclosure when he appeared before parliament on Thursday 3 February 2022 to present a statement on the implementation and monitoring of the 2021 budget. Mambury Njie

Mr. Njie further disclosed that the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education was allocated 2.83 billion dalasi; Transport, Works and Infrastructure Ministry 2.76 billion dalasi; Ministry of Health1.69 billion dalasi, making them the three highest spending ministries in the Gambia in 2021.

The Minister gave a breakdown of top spending budget lines in the 2021 fiscal year.

“The top spending budget lines are subventions 2.91 billion dalasi; roads and bridges 2.19 billion dalasi; operating cost 520 million dalasi; settlement of contracts and debts 516 million dalasi; traveling expenses 390 million dalasi, food and food services 301 million dalasi, vehicles 291 million dalasi, school improvement grants 289 million dalasi, general pension benefits 244 million dalasi and purchase of fuel and lubricants 228 million dalasi.

The budget implementation and monitoring section of parliamentary standing orders requires the Vice President or a minister with responsibility for national finances to make a presentation before the assembly.

After learning that a friend tested positive for COVID-19, Thembi Ndlovu went to a health clinic in Zimbabwe’s capital in search of a free coronavirus test. But there were none left that day, leaving the 34-year-old hairdresser unsure if she needed to take precautions to protect clients.

“I wish we could just walk into a pharmacy and buy a cheap self-testing kit like we do with pregnancy or HIV,” she said as she left the clinic in a working-class township of Harare. “It would be much easier.”

For millions of people in rich countries, COVID-19 self-tests have at times been abundant and free, including in Britain, Canada, France and Germany. But most people across Africa have limited access to them.

Zimbabwe introduced free walk-in testing centres in November 2020, but supplies are tight and the country still has no national program to distribute at-home tests.

Although self-tests are available in some Zimbabwean pharmacies, they cost up to $15 each, a fortune in a country where more than 70% of the population lives in extreme poverty made worse by the pandemic. The situation is similar elsewhere across the continent and in parts of Asia and Latin America with few, if any, opportunities for people to easily test themselves.

Perhaps the biggest obstacle to making inexpensive, self-tests widely available in the developing world is that the World Health Organization has yet to issue guidance on their use. Without the resources of wealthy countries to buy tests or evaluate their safety, poor countries must wait for WHO approval before aid groups and international agencies are willing to donate them in large numbers.

Source: Associated Press

Gambia Moral Congress leader Mai Ahmad Fatty has highlighted the need for Gambians to develop political tolerance and maturity. According to Fatty, it is sad that several people have found it fashionable to vilify those who do not share their views.

“Political maturity is indeed a needed guest in our homes. Regrettably, most of us need to develop political tolerance. Gambian politics seems to operate on two extremes; either you ardently support the system or ferociously oppose the system,” Fatty wrote on his official Facebook page.

He further noted that those who demonstrate moderation by advocating for a middle ground are often punched by both sides.

“It doesn’t mean sitting on the fence, because that’s called neutrality. In the midst of this apparent contradiction, ‘truth’ becomes the enemy,”

The GDC leader went on to note that when you appreciate a positive element on either side, you become a devil for the other side, with each side expecting you to see evil or talk evil about the other side.

“If you express a positive about a particular government success, you are vilified by the other side and described as a job seeker,” he said.

The High Court in Banjul presided over by Justice Zainab Jawara Alameh has today 4th  February 2022 ruled against the 90 days application filed by the state to remand General Saul Badjie and Co, ordering their immediate release.

Justice Alameh stated that it is unlawful to keep a person in prison under suspicious without any charge preferred against him or her, adding that it is clear that any detention beyond 72 hours is unlawful quoting section 92 to section 95 of the constitution of the Gambia.

The Judge emphasized that the respondent cannot be held without being charged. The order dictates that: General Badjie and Co should be released immediately from Mile Two Central Prison: should not leave the jurisdiction without the consent of the court; and should be made available to the investigators whenever they are required for.

It could be recalled that Saul Badjie and Co were arrested and remanded upon their returned to the Gambia from Equatorial Guinea. General Badjie was security aide to former President Yahya Jammmeh.

By: Sarjo Brito

The leader of the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC), the main separatist movement in the Casamance region of Senegal, Salif Sadio has issued a stern warning to The Gambia following a deadly clash between members of his group and Senegalese soldiers on Gambian soil.

Speaking in a rare interview at his Base in Casamance, Salif Sadio told reporters Gambia must refuse to be used as a battleground in the ongoing conflict between the government of Senegal and the MFDC.

Sadio said the only reason he and his men decided to retreat during last week’s incident was because of the longstanding relations between the people of Cassamance and Gambians living along the border but warned that any other attack on his men from Senegalese soldiers based in The Gambia will be met with deadly consequences.

“The population of Cassamance and that of the Gambia living in this area are all inter-related. All I ever asked is for the rights of my people to be respected and for the people of Cassamance to be free. why should that cause a fight?

But if you Gambians allow yourselves to be fooled, asking you to take part in this conflict, then you must know they have a hidden agenda. They did it to Guinea-Bissau and a lot of people died. It Is not like my men and I were chased from our base in that area. I had to think and retreat because I realised the people who were caught in the crossfires were relatives. Because there is not one from Bissau who doesn’t have family ties in Cassamance,” Salif Sadio said.

He further noted that he had said this a long time ago before the day came, that ECOWAS will transform The Gambia into their battleground to fight the MFDC. He maintained that the reason he chose to stand down is because children had to go to school and these are his children too because their parents are neighbours and relatives.

“They are African children who need to be educated. Just look at the surrounding, everyone fled their homes. That alone is a regret to me. So, go and tell the Gambians that what happened this time must not repeat itself because when it does, there will be regrets. Your army and their uniforms do not faze me. There is only one thing in war, you either kill or you are killed.

War is an art to me, and I am not afraid of it. Tell Gambia I said this must not be repeated. I stood down this time, but I won’t next time it happens. I will kill even if my wife or child is there. This fight is between me and Senegal. We have been in this fight for 40 years and never have you heard shots in Gambia fired by the MFDC,” he said sternly.

The Senegal-Cassamance conflict was ignited in 1982. The separatist group MFDC has called for the independence of the Cassamance region. The conflict often described as low-level has claimed thousands of lives in the region and displaced many.

Cameroon coach Antonio Conceicao believes fatigue played a role in his team’s loss to Egypt in the Africa Cup of Nations semi-final played on Thursday night at the Paul Biya Stadium in Yaounde. The hosts had come into the match as favourites and pushed hard for a goal, but their opponents did not give them an easy time.

At the end of 120 minutes, neither of the two African heavyweights had managed to find the back of the net.

In the penalty shootout that followed, the Pharaohs scored their three penalties while the Indomitable Lions scored one and failed to convert the other three.

As a result, Egypt advanced by virtue of a 3-1 scoreline to set up a date with Senegal in the final while Cameroon will play Burkina Faso in the third-place play-off.

“The team played well during the 90 minutes trying to score goals but we didn’t succeed,” Conceicao said as quoted by the CAF official site.

“We are as sad as the 27 million Cameroonians, but I think the Egyptian team knew how to counter us. We’re sad but it’s the reality. The players felt some signs of fatigue at the end of the match, especially after a very physical and intense first half. We had tried to save our energy to counter the opponent but in vain.”

After making it to the final, Egypt assistant coach Diaa Elsayed insisted their mission will only be completed once they are crowned champions.

Gambia’s President Adama Barrow has said the main purpose of the ECOWAS extraordinary Summit held in Accra, Ghana on Thursday 3 January 2022 is to return countries who recently had military takeovers to democratic civilian rule.

“The main discussion was about Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea and Guinea Bissau. As a bloc, we need to discuss the issues affecting the region. The trend is not health for democracy. As Heads of States and Governments, we decided to have the summit to help those countries return to democratic rule. We want to transition those countries and help them strengthen their institutions and organize elections”

The President was speaking to journalists on his return to Banjul after attending the extraordinary summit of Heads of States and Governments on the political situation in some ECOWAS member States.

By: Christian Conteh

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has raised concern over the breach of constitutional order in the region notably with the recent military coup d’Etat and attempted coup d’état in some Member States including Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali.

This concern prompted an Extraordinary Summit by the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS in Accra, Ghana on 3rd February 2022, under the chairmanship of H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President of the Republic of Ghana and Chairperson of the ECOWAS Authority.

The Extraordinary Summit was convened to examine the recent political developments in Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali to ensure the restoration of constitutional order in these countries.

Benin’s Patrice Talon, Cote d’Ivoire Alassane Ouattara, Gambia’s Adama Barrow, Senegal’s Macky Sall and Sierra Leone’s Julius Maada Bio were among the Presidents who attended the meeting. The Authority decided to maintain the military and police components of the ECOWAS Mission in The Gambia (ECOMIG) to consolidate stability in the country.

“The Authority affirms its commitment to stand firm for the protection of democracy and freedom in the region and reiterates its resolute stance to upholding the principle of zero tolerance for ascension to power through unconstitutional means, as enshrined in the 2001 ECOWAS Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good governance,” it said in its statement.

IN GUINEA BISSAU -The Authority firmly condemned the attempted coup d’Etat and expressed solidarity with President Umaro Sissoco EMBALO and the people of Guinea Bissau. In view of these recent developments, the Authority decided to deploy a force to support the stabilization of the country.

BURKINA FASO -ECOWAS upholds the suspension of Burkina Faso from all ECOWAS Institutions until the restoration of constitutional order. It further calls on the military authorities to establish the transition institutions, adopt a transition calendar and facilitate the return to constitutional order within the shortest time.

GUINEA– ECOWAS upholds all the sanctions already imposed on Guinea whilst requesting the transition authority to provide ECOWAS with an acceptable timetable for restoring constitutional order.

MALI- ECOWAS upholds all the sanctions imposed on Mali in line with its decision of 9 January 2022 and urges the Malian authorities to urgently propose an acceptable electoral timetable to ECOWAS to enable the progressive lifting of the sanctions.

Furthermore, the regional body (ECOWAS) reaffirms its readiness to work in conjunction with the African Union and the United Nations to provide the necessary technical support to the authorities in Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali in implementing the approved timetables.
ECOWAS ended its statement at the meeting by reaffirming its commitment to strengthening democracy, freedom and good governance in the region.

The BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron has been found in five African countries, a World Health Organization scientist said on Thursday, adding she was concerned about the development because samples of BA.2 may not be spotted as a form of Omicron.

The BA.2 sub-variant has begun to replace Omicron’s more common “original” BA.1 variant in countries such as Denmark. Data from there suggests no difference in disease severity, according to another WHO official.

“BA.2 … has been reported in five countries, that is Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Senegal as well as South Africa,” Dr Nicksy Gumede-Moeletsi told an online media briefing.

“We are very concerned,” she said, adding that BA.2 was proving hard to identify because it was not always picked up by the S-Gene Target Failure criterion, which is used to distinguish the original Omicron from other variants.

Gumede-Moeletsi said the WHO was working very closely with laboratories, asking them to forward samples that had come back without being flagged as Omicron for further analysis, in order to gain a more precise picture of the spread of BA.2.

The BA.1 version of Omicron has been somewhat easier to track than prior variants. That is because BA.1 is missing one of three target genes used in a common PCR test. Cases showing this pattern were assumed by default to be caused by BA.1.

BA.2, sometimes known as a “stealth” sub-variant, does not have the same missing target gene as the original Omicron variant.

Instead, scientists are monitoring it the same way they have prior variants, including Delta, by tracking the number of virus genomes submitted to public databases such as GISAID.

As with other variants, an infection with BA.2 can be detected by coronavirus home tests kits, though they cannot indicate which variant is responsible, experts said.

Source: Reuters

The Medicines Control Agency has in a recent press release signed by Markieu Janneh Kaira the institutions Executive Director reminded the public that it is illegal for any person or entity to be engaged in the import, distribution, storage, sale, advertisement and promotion of medicines including nutritional supplements and herbal medicines in The Gambia without its approval.

“A person or entity shall not be engaged in the import, distribution, storage, sale, advertisement or promotion of medicines including nutritional supplements and herbal medicines to the general public as a treatment, preventive or cure for a disease, disorder or abnormal physical state unless has been authorised by the Medicines Control Agency,” the press release stated.

According to the institution, the Medicines and Related Products Act of 2014 recognises that medicines must not be treated as ordinary goods of commerce. The act in this regard places specific restrictions on their manufacture, import, distribution, storage, sale and advertisement for the common good.

It further notes that the peddling or sale of medicines at the markets, streets, ferry crossings, weekly markets (“lumos”) and other unauthorized places and/ or by unauthorized persons is illegal and has the potential to negatively impact public health.
“The general public is hereby being advised and warned to desist from patronising such places and individuals for the interest of their own health,” it read.

The Agency warns that media houses, individuals and entities who fail to abide by the law shall face the full strength of the law, whilst soliciting the support and cooperation of the public in the control of unauthorised import, distribution, storage, sale, advertisement and promotion of medicines including nutrition supplements and herbal medicines in the country.

By: Sarjo Brito

The leader of the opposition party Gambia Democratic Congress, Mama Kandeh says he welcomes the release of the two Gambian nationals who were captured by Senegalese forces during an intense fight between elements of the separatist movement MFDC and Senegalese soldiers stationed in Foni.

The duo who was under the custody of the Senegalese forces have now been released and handed to Gambian authorities following a public outcry demanding their release.

“We of the Gambian Democratic Congress (GDC) hereby welcome the return of our two brothers; Alkalo of Karrol, Modou Bojang and Gambian Police Officer, Abdou Jammeh of the CIU, who were captured, held hostage, and taken away by Senegalese soldiers under the watch of the Gambian government, back to The Gambia. They have been handed over to the Gambian Police Force, our law enforcement Agency, which is the proper thing to do. GDC hopes that this latest show of ineptitude and irresponsibility by our government in protecting our citizens will not continue,’’ a statement from GDC Read

The GDC party says no foreign government or institution has the right to protect Gambia’s forests on the country’s behalf, reiterating the mandate of the ECOMOG forces in the country.

“We have professional men and women in our national security forces. As clearly stated in our former press release, the Senegalese soldiers attached to the ECOMIG team have no mandate/operational right according to the ECOWAS Protocol on ECOMIG to get involved in the implementation of Gambian domestic laws. The Gambia is a sovereign nation, and its sovereignty is an absolute and indispensable right that must be observed and respected by every individual, nation, or society.’’

The Gambia Democratic Congress urged all Gambians to refuse to be dragged into the Senegal-Cassamance debacle, adding that no Gambian must bear the brunt of the decades-long arm fight between the separatist group and the Senegalese government.

The party also called on the Gambian government to stop any move aimed at aiding and abetting the Senegalese government in its fight against the MFDC.

By: Christian Conteh

The Egyptian Football Association is still uneasy about the fact that Gambian referee Bakari Gassama will be on officiating duties today at the AFCON Semifinal when the Pharaohs of Egypt lock horns with the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Association made a formal protest with the Confederation of African Football (CAF) against the appointment of Gambian referee Bakari Gassama to officiate the African Nations Cup semi-final against Cameroon.

The Associations Facebook page read:

The Egyptian Football Association has lodged an official protest with the Confederation of African Football over the appointment of Gambian referee Bakari Gassama to officiate the Cameroon-Egypt match scheduled for Thursday in the semi-finals of the African Nations Championship currently being held in Cameroon.

The statement added: The Federation also submitted to CAF two memoranda, each containing full responses to what happened following the end of the match between Egypt and Morocco in the quarterfinals, and the circumstances of the inability of the Portuguese national team coach, Carlos Queiroz, to attend the press conference before the same match.

Moroccan and Egyptian press reports indicated clashes between the players of the two teams after Egypt’s 2-1 victory over Morocco after extra time in the quarter-final match on Saturday.

The Egyptian team began its quest to achieve its eighth continental title and strengthen its record weakly, losing 1-0 to Nigeria in its opening match and winning 1-0 against Guinea Bissau and Sudan after lacklustre performances.

Director of Communications at the Gambia Football Federation Baboucar Camara is reported to have told Egyptian media that he has no idea why the Egyptian federation is suspicious of Gassama.

“Gassama is one of the best referees in the world at the present time, he has officiated decisive matches in major tournaments and is known for his good reputation. We assure everyone that he will present a level worthy of the match.”

Although the Egyptian Federation has not given any substantial reason for their protest, many are of the view that the Egyptians think he (Gassama) is biased against their team. They have similarly accused him of previous bias against Egyptian clubs.

Amidst their protest CAF thinks Bakary Papa Gassama is the man for the job.

Cameroon Coach, Antonio Conceiçao says his players are highly motivated ahead of their 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) semi-finals match against the Pharaohs of Egypt. Hosts Cameroon will be seeking a place in the 2021 AFCON final when they lock horns with Egypt at the Olembe Stadium in Yaoundé today.

Conceiçao speaking at a pre-match press conference in Yaounde said his players were motivated to win the Egyptians, adding that the overall objective was to win the title.

“Our goal is clear; to play a good game and go to the final. We will play against a very good team, Egypt, the most successful team in Africa. They have very good players, including one of the best in the world, namely Mohamed Salah”.

“My players are motivated to win. We have positive pressure, but our objective is clear, to win the title for the Cameroonian people,” he said.

Cameroonian Midfielder Andre Anguissa stressed that he and his teammates were motivated to play a good match against Egypt.

“We are determined to achieve a good result, go to the final and win the title. Playing at home is very special for us. We are committed to play this semi-final and go for the title next Sunday, for the Cameroonian people”.

Four wins and a draw in the road to the semi-final give the Indomitable Lions a vast amount of confidence before facing rivals Egypt for a ticket in Sunday’s final. They know well they will have the support of thousands as they dream of a sixth AFCON trophy.

Cameroon will once again rely on the lethal attacking duo of Vincent Abubakar and Karl Toko Ekambi, who has scored all Cameroon 11 goals to the moment, six for Abubakar and one less for Ekambi. (NAN)

Source : The Herald

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recommended two new drugs for COVID-19, providing yet more options for treating the disease. But, the extent to which these medicines will save lives depends on how widely available and affordable they will be.

The first drug named baricitinib is strongly recommended for patients with severe or critical COVID-19. It is part of a class of drugs called Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors that suppress the overstimulation of the immune system. WHO recommends that it be given with corticosteroids.

Baricitinib is an oral drug, used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. It provides an alternative to other arthritis drugs 

WHO has also conditionally recommended the use of a monoclonal antibody drug known as sotrovimab for treating mild or moderate COVID-19 in patients who are at high risk of hospitalisation.

This includes older patients, immunocompromised (a state in which the immune system’s ability to fight infectious diseases is compromised or absent), having underlying conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and obesity, and those unvaccinated.

Sotrovimab is the other drug, a monoclonal antibody cocktail recommended by WHO in September 2021. 

Studies are ongoing on the effectiveness of monoclonal antibodies against Omicron, but early laboratory studies show that sotrovimab retains its activity.

The panel of experts developing the guidelines also looked at two other drugs for severe and critical COVID-19: ruxolitinib and tofacitinib. Given their uncertain effects, WHO made a conditional recommendation against their use.

These recommendations, forming the eighth update of WHO’s living guidelines on therapeutic and COVID-19 are based on evidence from seven trials involving over 4,000 patients with non-severe, severe, and critical COVID-19.

WHO is in discussions with manufacturers to secure global supply capacity and equitable and sustainable access to the newly recommended therapeutics.

The two newly recommended drugs – baricitinib and sotrovimab – have been invited for WHO prequalification which assesses the quality, efficacy and safety of priority health products to increase access in lower-income countries.