Assailed by things deadly, horrible, inexplicable and invisible we naturally ask why?

That plaintive question bridges, race, gender, class, identity and education.

Why is COVID 19 killing more men than women?

Why is the accursed virus proving more deadly to minorities in the northern hemisphere countries were it now rages?

My guess is we will still be asking these and other questions by the time a vaccine is discovered and tested.

One recurring question, however, bears immediate examination: why are women leaders dealing with the pandemic better than men.

I think immediately of Germany’s Angela Merkel, New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern, Finland’s Sanna Marin, Norway’s Erna Solberg, Iceland’s Katrin Jakobsdottir and Taiwan’s Tsai Ing-Wen.

They constitute a healthy slice of the 7% of female heads of government on the planet.

How does one judge a leader’s performance in the worst international crisis since World War II?

It might actually be too bold to make a judgement before we can more accurately gauge the economic disaster brought on by the virus and the lockdown to keep it out.

We might have to reconsider after seeing what is left of the economies that were opened up..

But for now we know that the severity of the pandemic is determined by three things: population density, exposure to travelers carrying the virus across borders and the speed with which borders were closed and people forced into lockdown.

Leadership had little to do with the first two points, but it can be judged on the third.

The severity of the pandemic was substantially lower when leaders acted sooner to lockdown – even by a week.

This flattened the curve , reduced the RO factor which is the  number of people each coronavirus victim infects and prevented new cases.

There were male leaders who acted swiftly. 

But those who stand out now: US President Donald Trump, British Prime Minister  Boris Johnson and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro down-played the risk of COVID 19 until it was too late.

By contrast each of the woman mentioned above acted days sometime weeks ahead of their neighbours.

In doing so they took the  bold and unpopular step of closing down life as they knew it against an invisible enemy.

Despite the dishonest bluster and backsliding of their President, 80% of American males still picked men  when asked to name leaders they most admire.

Nearly three-quarters of men believe they are more intelligent than their peers.

By comparison 57% of woman believe they are smarter than average.n

They don’t suffer the over-confidence of men, preferring to seek input and listen in order to make decisions that support communities.

They engage diverse advisers and a wide network of opinions, building teams rather than trusting their own judgement and instincts as men tend to do.

Women acknowledged for being “other directed” and emotionally intelligent are showing themselves in this crisis to be every bit as  decisive and transformational as men by excelling on vision, inspiration, direction setting and thinking outside the box.

Perhaps there is something instinctive about turning to a woman in matters of physical hurt.

When you grazed your knee, bumped your head or cut your finger, who did you turn to first?

Why, Mum, of course.

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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.

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A Greek oil tanker off Togo and a Norwegian bulk carrier are the latest targets of the buccaneers.

Four crew members had been kidnapped from the Greek tanker attacked off Togo. A security guard was shot and injured. 

Nine sailors  were abducted from the Norwegian bulk carrier off Benin.

Figures from the  International Maritime Bureau indicate these bring to 75 the number  seafarers seized this past year by pirates seeking ransom payments from the ship owners.

Millions of dollars have been paid by companies considering whether to send vessels into the Gulf of Guinea. 

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Director of International Coordination at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation Zaheer Laher tells the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria that this approach is central to South Africa’s participation as a rotating member of the United Nations Security Council.

A quarter of the way through South Africa’s two year term on the United Nations powerhouse, the Institute for Security Studies is hosting a forum looking at how its has been doing.

DIRCO’s top international relations official Zaheer Laher says there’s been criticism about advocating more talks rather punitive action on Venezuela.

“Part of the process, political dialogue would have come in almost every intervention we have made in the Security Council in the last six months and in our previous terms on the body. This is not an accident, South Africa will always emphasize the importance of political dialogue,” he says

Recent action, including Norway’s involvement as mediator in Venezuela, has vindicated South Africa’s support for dialogue rather than the big stick.

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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.

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The telecoms billionaire was speaking in Cote d’Ivoire at a meeting of his foundation that publishes an annual index of good governance and rewards democratically elected African leaders who stand down voluntarily.

Mo Ibrahim’s call comes as Saudi Arabia and Egypt offer asylum to Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir, who’s facing unprecedented and persistent mass protests to stand down.

With demonstrators camping for a fifth night outside army headquarters in Khartoum and vowing to stay there until Al Bashir goes, 

Britain, Norway and the United States  have called on the government there to deliver a credible political transition plan. 

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He’s refusing to budge but promises to provide citizens with a dignified life.

The governments of the United States, Britain, Canada and Norway say they’ve credible evidence that Sudanese forces are using live ammunition against demonstrators.

At least 22 people have died  in a week of protests.

The two major oppositions parties – Umaa  and the Democratic Unionists – joined by independent and professional unions, say they’ll one again march on the presidential palace on the banks of the Blue Nile in Khartoum today.

Police used water cannon and batons yesterday to keep them at bay.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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