That encompasses both good and bad.

So while many rue the loss of a holiday lazing on a Mediterranean beach, others regret not being able to take their lives in their hands crossing that sea to find a better, safer life in Europe.

Coronavirus has reduced but not stopped the flow of migrants which normally peaks during the northern summer months.

Indeed, it has made the crossing even more dangerous.

Coinciding with Thursday’s international day against people trafficking, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and Denmark’s Mixed Migration Centre have released a report confirming that reaching the  Mediterranean from Africa and traversing it to Europe remains the most dangerous migration route on the planet.

The latest available figures show that 72 people a month died trying to make the trip.

More than a quarter of those perished trying to cross the Sahara desert before even making the Mediterranean shore.

Thousands suffered rape, torture and other abuse at the hands people traffickers and lamentably the police.

Thousands have been detained under appalling conditions mainly in Libya where no fewer than 43 000 refugees are held.

Thousands are missing and unaccounted for under the waves.

To illustrate the hazards currently experienced, the International Organisation for Migration reports that

three Syrian refugees were shot dead by Libyan officials last Monday when they tried to escape from Al Khums after being dropped there by the Libyan coastguard.

At least 65 refugees from Eritrea, Morocco and Sudan have tested positive for COVID 19 in Malta where they were taken by sailors who plucked them from a 30-hour maritime nightmare. 

Those now in quarantine represent two thirds of the people rescued.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees Fillipo Grandi says the situation calls for concerted action by the states in the region with the support of the international community.

That might provide a band aid for the visible wounds.

The real solution lies in making life more tolerable in the home countries of the migrants, so that they don’t feel it is worth risking death to escape.

The post Covid lockdown hasn’t stopped the desperate bid to find a better, safer life in Europe appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

The World Press Freedom Index puts it top of the continental list and ranks it 23rd in the world.

The Paris based non-profit organisation Reporters Without Borders has been publishing its annual world press freedom index for 25 years.

This year the Scandinavian countries Norway, Finland, Denmark and Sweden are judged to be the freest in the world.

For the eighth successive year Eritrea is at the bottom of the list of 180 countries.

South Africa is in 31st position – the same place it occupied last year.

The organisation calls 2020 a decisive year for the world media and says its difficulties have been exacerbated by the COVID 19 pandemic.

The post Namibia is the freest African country in which to be a journalist appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

President Nana Akufo Ado says the relaxation of the stay-home will be tailored, adding that it was doing enormous harm to the country’s poor.

ends 

The Ghanaian cities of Accra and Kumasi opened at the same time as cities in German and Denmark and India.

There are still restrictions in the West African state.

Busses and taxis have to carry a mimum number of passengers and stores have to ensure social distancing.

Many Ghanaians say its asking too much of the police to ensure these are obeyed.

Ghana has tested 68 000 people and found 1042 confirmed cases of COVID 19. The virus has killed nine people.

The post Mixed reaction to Ghana relaxing COVID 19 lockdown appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

The Moroccan government has refused to pay compensation to the victims family.

Dane Louisa Jesperson and Norwegian  Maren Ueland, who were studying to be tourist guides and had been assured of their safety in Morocco. They  were attacked while camping in the Kingdom’s  High Atlas mountains  last December.

Abdessamad Ejjoud and Younes Ouzayid beheaded the young woman while Rachid Afatt filmed the killing and posted it on social media.

The men, described in court  as bloodthirsty killers, mutilated the bodies in their efforts to become members of Islamic State.

Morocco last year introduced a moratorium on the death penalty.

If the killers of the Scandinavian women are executed, it will be the first since 1993.

The post Moroccan killers of Scandinavian tourists get the death sentence appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

They’ve arrested 13 people in connection with the what the Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen calls a particularly bestial killing.

Danish and Norwegian authorities are still examining the video posted on social  media showing the beheading of 28-year-old Norwegian Maren Ueland and 24-year-old Dane Louisa Jespersen.

Their bodies were found in their tent in Morocco’s High Atlas mountains where they were hiking.

The social media posting claims the beheadings are revenge for Western anti-terror operations in Syria.

Of the four murder suspects being held, one has served a two-year-sentence for extremist related crimes.

All four have been shown on social media pledging allegiance to so called Islamic State.

A candlelit vigil was held in Rabat at the weekend by Moroccans apologizing for the killings.

The post Moroccan authorities confirm authenticity of video showing Scandanavian women being beheaded appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

The kingdom’s central bureau for judicial investigation says they’ve encountered at least eight terror cells this year.

Denmark’s Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen condemns what he calls the unusually bestial killing of his compatriot Louisa Jespersen and Norwegian Maren Ueland.

They were found in their tent in the high Atlas Mountains popular with trekkers, climbers and hikers.

Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg echoes his outrage.

Four arrests have been made by Moroccan police who found a video of the suspected murderer pledging his allegiance to so-called IS.

This has been worst terror attack in the kingdom since the 2011 killing of 17 people in a Marrakesh restaurant.

The post Morocco on international terror watchlist after Islamist killing of Scandanavian hikers appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

A criminal investigation has been started in the Kingdom where tourism is an economic cornerstone.

Tourism, next to the sale of dagga and oranges to Europe, is Morocco’s biggest foreign currency earner.

So authorities are desperate to find who killed the women from Denmark and Norway.

They were found near Mount Toubkal, the tallest peak in North Africa, about 80kms south of Marrakesh.

They had knife wounds to their necks.

Moroccan tourism suffered a blow when Conservative  MP Charlie Elphicke declared it to be unsafe for British tourists after a 69-year-old constituent Ray Cole was thrown into jail for four months for being in the company of a local suspected by authorities of being homosexual.

The post Two Scandanavian women found dead from neck wounds in Morocco’s High Atlas mountains appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

Ottawa’s International Development Minister  says she’s afraid that taking such punitive action will hurt innocent people.

Tanzanian President John Magafuli’s crackdown on homosexuals has caused the EU to withdraw its ambassador to Dar es Salaam and review its $88m aid package to the East African country.

Denmark’s withholding $10 million from Tanzania and Washington has issued a travel advisory warning  of homophobia there.

Canada’s aid minister Marie-Claude Bibeau says her country’s involved in health and education projects in Tanzania she believes are making a difference.

A quarter of Canada’s aid to Tanzania goes directly to government. Most of  of the $90m directed there this year is going to multilateral projects and non governmental bodies.

The post Canada’s dilemma about withholding aid to protest homophobia in Tanzania appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

It’s taken the step for security and identification purposes.

ends intro

By banning the full-face veil Algeria falls into line with Denmark, France, Belgium and Latvia preventing women wearing a niqab or burqa in public.

The official Algerian notice says female public servants may not wear any clothes preventing them from carrying out their public duties.

Critics are asking how this applies to the niqab.

Earlier, authorities banned female students from wearing headscarves during examinations or tests saying it increased the possibility of cheating.

Moderate and radical Muslims have often clashed in Algeria.

In 1992 a military coup cancelled elections that Islamists were poised to win.

The post Algerian women public servants banned from wearing full-face veils appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

The Transparency Corruption Index for 2017, now out scores  South Africa at 43 out of a possible 100.

It was 45 the previous year.

South Africa’s score of 43 on Transparency International’s latest  corruption perception index accords exactly  with the average of 180 countries assessed

That’s not necessarily comforting news from the Berlin-based international watchdog that finds countries are making little or no progress fighting graft.

This year, New Zealand and Denmark rank highest with scores of 89 and 88 respectively. Syria, South Sudan and Somalia rank lowest with scores of 14, 12 and 9 respectively. Sub-Saharan Africa with an average score of 32 is the worst performing region.

The post SA corruption seen as getting worse appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.