When the COVID-19 pandemic was first identified in Wuhan City in China in December 2019, this information seemed distant to different countries outside China despite the warnings by World Health Organization (WHO). That is probably another great error of our time. But the issue is not whether we had known or not that the virus is unstoppable It is rather the human ignorance that turned the virus into a conflict source, because we saw it coming.
Facts about the crisis started to spread widely, educating the considered distant nations to protect themselves and their governments cautioning their citizens against the fast approaching enemy. However, this also stirred xenophobia and racism in many communities. In the city of New York in the United States of America, some Asian natives such as the Hong Kong born Eunice begun wearing masks according to the Atlantic. Through their experience with the SARS outbreak in the 2003, masks symbolized solidarity with others and individual protection as reported by the same paper. However, this only raised discrimination against such people across the USA.
Similar xenophobic reports flooded the media across the world. Humans continued to expose own ignorance, failing to put efforts together to deal with a common problem. This pushed the United Nations to react against the behavior despite defiance by several states. For example, on the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination held on March 21, the UN special rapporteur on racism reminded us that; “crises like the coronavirus pandemic remind us that we are all connected and that our well-being is interdependent.”
However, this did not seem to teach a huge lesson. As if it was not enough, the fights turned against people who were suspected to be COVID-19 positive and even those who had recent travel history regardless of their countries of travel; stigma, blame, rejection to name a few. On one hand it was a justified fear due to the limited knowledge about the virus but on the other hand it is a demonstration of a lack of solidarity in unsafe situations. A new generation of conflict that keeps exposing the human nature. For example, in Kenya a man who was suspected to be Coronavirus positive was beaten to death in March 20208 as reported by the media.
Equally in Rwanda, the Government put in place measures to trace people who are at risk of contracting the virus, quarantining them and treating sick ones. This has reduced the state of panic among the public and this is no surprise as the 2019 Citizen Report Card by the Rwanda Governance Board suggests more than 88% of Rwandans trust government institutions. However, there are people and their families who experienced stigma as a result of being placed under quarantine or mere suspicion on their COVID-19 status as reported in their different testimonies of social media. In addition, messages and photos were circulated on social media expressing anger and fear against individuals who were alleged to have disobeyed the COVID-19 prevention guidelines.
With the current situation, even more severe future conflicts can be projected, based on the scarcity of resources. To illustrate the gravity of the concern, the International Labor Organization projected an initial job loss estimated to around 25 million from a base level of 188 million in 2019.10 This, paired with expected global economic recession, countries can only expect that the next generation of conflict, over scarce resources, is likely to occur probably in a much harsher form.
Despite the blame game and failure, countries and the international community have shown solidarity and mutual support during tough times. When the World Health Organization was being dropped by its main donor, claiming to demand accountability, countries committed to support it in order to bridge the gap, and one of them is Saudi Arabia which committed $1011 million. Additionally, the African Union as well as individual African presidents condemned the trend, stating inappropriate timing to demand accountability.
For the case of Rwanda, just at the beginning of April 2020, the US Ambassador to Rwanda and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission Director announced US$1 million assistance in response to the COVID 19 pandemic, almost one billion Rwandan francs on top of the U.S. government’s existing support to Rwanda. Despite the critics of US top leadership alleged hostility against global health efforts, that support is evidence of potential ongoing solidarity, at least with Rwanda.
In the same time, the World Bank supported Rwanda with $14.25 million to support its COVID-19 National Preparedness and Response Plan by financing critical interventions, such as prompt diagnosis of suspected coronavirus cases, contact tracing to minimize risk of transmission, risk assessments to identify hot spot areas, and screening travelers at ports of entry. Although this emergency support may not end all the challenges anticipated during and after the crisis, it too, is an indication of mutual support.
In the same vein, adding to the major private sector actors like the Bank of Kigali which donated Rwf 282 Million to Government efforts to provide socio-economic relief to vulnerable households in Rwanda as stated in the Kigali Today press article14, Civil Society and individual well-wishers keep sending money and food donations to struggling families, to enable them to cope with food shortage that seems to grow along with the ongoing “Guma murugo” stay-at-home period.
Despite all efforts, it is highly important to mitigate potential conflicts that are likely to emerge from the current crisis. The more people stay at home, the more challenging it gets with millions losing jobs every day. Peacebuilding actors should start imagining adaptive approaches that will work in the post-Covid period. Governments should also design post-crisis strategies that go beyond economic uplifting to integrate conflict management as they uphold national and international cooperation.
Since its beginning, the COVID-19 crisis has been a cruel test to governance across the world. Therefore governance-related responses should also begin adapting before it is too late.
A mark has been added to human history and life may never be the same again.
By Eric Mahoro
Expert on program management, governance and advocacy