Covid-19 highlights devastation in sub-Saharan Africa – Amnesty
The crackdowns included killing of civilians and arrests of opposition politicians and supporters and human rights defenders and activists in countries such as Angola, Guinea and Uganda.
CAPE TOWN, April 7 (ANA) – The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the terrible legacy of deliberately divisive and destructive policies that have perpetuated inequality, discrimination and oppression across sub-Saharan Africa, Amnesty International said on Wednesday.
Across the region, the devastating impact of armed conflict in countries such as Ethiopia, Mozambique, Cameroon and Nigeria was compounded by the pandemic as a number of states weaponised it to crack down on human rights, the rights organisation said in its annual report.
The crackdowns included killings of civilians and arrests of opposition politicians and supporters and human rights defenders and activists in countries such as Angola, Guinea and Uganda.
Conflicts between states and armed groups and attacks on civilians have continued or escalated in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa, including the Central African Republic (CAR) which has been experiencing increasing election-related violence since last December.
“Conflicts between states and armed groups and attacks on civilians have continued or escalated in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa. In Southern Africa, the long-simmering violent tensions in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province intensified into full-blown armed conflict. The Horn of Africa region saw an outbreak of conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region,” said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International director for East and Southern Africa.
“At the same time, armed groups maintained a foothold in West Africa and the Sahel region, attacking civilians in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Nigeria. They blighted many lives in Cameroon, the Central African Republic (CAR) and Chad. In response, state security forces also committed grave human rights violations against civilians.”
The report also describes those already most marginalised, including women and refugees, as bearing the devastating brunt of the Covid-19 pandemic, as a result of discriminatory policy decisions by leaders in the region.
“Covid-19 has brutally exposed and deepened inequality across sub-Saharan Africa. Governments should urgently reinvest in people and ’repair’ the broken economic and social system which perpetuates poverty and inequality, including leaving too many behind,” said Samira Daoud, Amnesty International West and Central Africa director.
– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Yaron Blecher
