In journalism 101 we were taught never to give the oxygen of publicity to quack remedies for dreaded diseases.

That’s why you don’t read, hear or see about cures for cancer in anything approaching responsible media.

Believe me, these emerge daily from the crazies and the con-artists seeking attention or a fast buck.

So it was to be expected that miracle antidotes to COVID 19 would be flung at editors very early on in the pandemic.

They could safely ignore almost all them –  until heads of state got involved.

Madagascar’s deejay turned President Andry Rajoelina seeks international endorsement of a remedy for COVID 19 made from the leaves of the artemisia which has provided relief to some malaria sufferers.

He could have saved his blushes had he sat in on my journalism cadet course all those years ago.

And the bench next to him could usefully have been occupied by the United States television game show star turned President  Donald Trump who advocated another outdated malaria remedy, the outdated chloroquine,  for curing COVID 19.

That was before he  threw the medical reins between the horses last month and urged COVID 19 patients to inject disinfectant and shine ultra violet light into their bodies.

Time magazine reports the American Association of Poison Control Centres finding a 121% increase in poisoning from bleach and other disinfectants in April 2020 over the same month the previous year. 

Rajoelina cannot match Trump’s lethal milestone. However his angry assertion that the African Union has rejected the herbal remedy known as COVID ORGANICS only because it was not developed by a European company shows he has a sense of the ridiculous every bit as well-developed as his Washington counterpart.

And he evidently shares the Donald’s penchant. for disregarding the media that does not reflect his  views.

How else could he have overlooked the storm last month when two French doctors suggested that the COVID 19 vaccine be tested on poor Africans because they have not taken protected measures?

Doctors Camille Locht and Jean-Paul Mira have had the good sense to apologize for hurt and offense they caused.

The Africa’s continental body was furiously adamant that it citizens would not be used as guinea pigs.

So has the World Health Organisation,  Like the AU the WHO give the thumbs down to COVID ORGANICS  which has reportedly been tested on 20 people for two weeks. Hardly decisive.

Rajoelina can draw some comfort from the favorable attention his peers have given the Malgash remedy.

Tanzania’s President John Magafuli,  who evidently believes that his chemistry qualification  entitles him to be a COVID 19 maverick, sent a plane to collect a load of the remedy  in Antananarivo.

Guinea Bissau, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Niger  have also bought consignments.

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize is quoted as saying South Africa will help test and analyse COVID ORGANICS.

I fully support African solutions to African problems. But this is surely a classical case for caution. 

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Washington-based pressure group Human Rights Watch accuses the forces of killing and  raping people they’ve arrested.

Human Rights Watch says at least two people suspected of breaking the lockdown were shot dead by security forces in the southern district of Nyanza.

People accused of breaking the lockdown have been detained in football stadia, says the pressure group, and it is there that the soldiers raped the women.

Journalists and bloggers who reported on the abuses have been arrested.

Rwanda’s been praised for the swift action taken to curb the COVID 19 infections. To date it has had 176 confirmed infections and no deaths

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It is further alleged police extorted money and stole food in addition to using excessive force.

The victims include a 13-year-old boy shot in the stomach while standing on his balcony;

A tomato seller killed when he was hit  by a tear gas canister; and

An accountant beaten to death in a pub.

Police were always going to have a tough time enforcing a curfew on Keyans who like to thank themselves for working hard by having a few drinks.

In Nairobi alone they were arresting 300 people a week for curfew breaking.

Human Rights Watch maintains they unnecessarily used too much lethal force.

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A number of arrests have been made since the attack on Monday. Some of them foreigners.

Abdalla Hamdok was unscathed when explosives and gunfire were launched on his convoy taking him to work in Khartoum.

It underlines the fragility of Sudan’s transition to civilian rule after last year’s fall of Omar Al Bashir.

The arrival in Sudan of FBI agents supporting  investigations into the  attack shows how relations between Washington Khartoum have warmed since Al Bashir’s departure.

Sudan under him was regarded as an international pariah for which it drew economic and military sanctions. 

Sudan was on Washington’s list of terrorist supporting states for which it attracted sanctions.

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Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government lauds the Sudanese administration for not endorsing the Arab League position.

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Last week Ethiopia deplored what it called the United States meddling in the controversy over the Grand Renaissance Dam its building across the Blue Nile.

Egypt brought the US into the process when it was unable to get Ethiopian assurances that the flow of water downstream would not be affected the by dam.

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry is on a tour of seven Arab countries following the support for its position by Arab League foreign ministers.

Ethiopia accuses the ministers of  supporting a fellow member rather than dealing with the facts of the matter. 

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No-one has claimed responsibility, but opponents of President Paul Biya are blaming the army.

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James Nunan of  the United Nations Humanitarian Coordination Agency says a pregnant woman and 14 children, nine of them under five years old, are among those killed.

President Paul  Biya has been battling English-speaking separatists in the northwest and southwest of Cameroon.

Three years of fighting have left more than 3000 dead and displaced 70 000. 

His security forces are accused of atrocities and human rights violations.

This has

 led Washington to axe Cameroon from the list of African countries on a special favoured trading  status programme.

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Talks in Washington, aimed at preparing for final agreement by heads of state at the end of this month are not making progress.

Brokering  the talks, the US is trying to put a brave face on the crawling negotiations.

Treasure Secretary Steve Mnuchin says technical experts are doing their job.

But he can’t point to any concrete progress.

The Grand Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile will turn Ethiopia into Africa’s power generating giant.

But Sudan and Egypt downstream fear their vital interests are at stake.

Matters are complicated by  a latest report of Uganda planning a dam across the Nile.

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By contrast, President Muhammadu Buhari says Nigeria’s dropping visa restrictions to build its talent pool by attract innovation, specialist skills and knowledge from abroad.

Speaking after talks in Washington with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama says the immigration ban on his compatriots was announced as he was preparing for talks on expanding  bilateral co-operation.

He says US officials assured him the ban would be lifted.

He’s working to ease US security concerns which largely led to the  immigrant ban by sharing information about immigrants’ criminal behaviour, stolen passports and suspected links with terrorism 

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France’s Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly will go to Washington this week to secure continued US support for the fight against Islamist extremists in the Sahel.

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Jihadis have used northern Mali to mount a series of attacks on that country and neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.

The US has supplied drone support, logistics, intelligence and transport for the so-called G5 group of Sahel countries, backed by UN and French troops, fighting terrorists.

There have been suggestions that President Donald Trump is losing interest in this battle and France Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly is heading to Washington to urge him to maintain his support.   

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Three others have been jailed for what Saudi authorities insists was a rogue operation.

The killing, dismemberment and disposal of Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October last year is the grissly stuff of horror movies.

It has done irreparable damage to the reputation of Saudi Arabia. Certainly as much harm as the 9/11 attacks on Manhattan and Washington by Saudi-trained terrorists.

Many major newspapers and analysts say it could never have happened without approval from the very top.

That’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

His closest advisor Saud al-Qahtani was investigated but not charged.

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