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A6 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 8 OcTOber 2020

Up to 150 million could join extreme poor, World Bank says

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — what lies ahead," the report
Up to 150 million people says. "We must not fail."
could slip into extreme The extreme poor are dis-
poverty, living on less than advantaged even before
$1.90 a day, by late next birth, the report warns:
year depending on how "Their mothers are less likely
badly economies shrink to receive adequate nutri-
during the COVID-19 pan- tion and antenatal care; at
demic, the World Bank said birth, their very existence
Wednesday in an outlook is often not officially regis-
grimmer than before. tered." Escaping such pov-
Middle income-countries erty becomes a huge chal-
are expected to have 82% lenge.
of the new extreme poor, But in Africa, some coun-
including India, Nigeria and tries had made "impressive
Indonesia. Many of the new strides" against poverty
extreme poor will be more and several had some of
educated urban residents, the world's fastest-grow-
meaning cities will see an ing economies before the
increase in the kind of pov- pandemic. Now Africa's
erty traditionally rooted in 54 countries say they need
rural areas. $100 billion per year over
Most of the new extreme the next three years to fight
poor, more than 110 million In this Saturday, March 21, 2020 file photo, people travel by canoe during a coronavirus lockdown COVID-19 and its econom-
even by the World Bank's in the floating slum of Makoko in Lagos, Nigeria. Associated Press. ic and social effects.
baseline estimate, will be in Roughly a third of the newly
South Asia and sub-Saha- Almost a quarter of the struction and manufactur- richer governments to free extreme poor are expect-
ran Africa. world's population lives be- ing — the sectors in which up resources to fight the ed to be in sub-Saharan
The pandemic has abruptly low $3.20 a day, a massive economic activity is most pandemic. They want an Africa, between 26 million
halted years of progress number of people vulnera- affected by lockdowns extension of the debt mor- and 40 million. South Asia,
against global extreme ble to the kind of economic and other mobility restric- atorium by Group of 20 na- however, will see the larg-
poverty, expected to rise shocks that this year have tions," the report says, citing tions beyond the end of est share, between 49 mil-
this year for the first time in come in waves. Unemploy- phone surveys in countries this year, and they call for lion and 57 million.
over two decades. It also ment is rising, and those around the world. outright debt cancellation. The addition of up to 150
threatens to worsen glob- who scraped together sav- Recovery, experts say, They also want the issue of million extremely poor peo-
al inequality and make it ings have watched them could take a decade — a special drawing rights by ple threatens to rupture
"harder for countries to re- disappear. Families are shattering blow to people the International Monetary governments' already fray-
turn to inclusive growth," eating less. Many children, who had pulled themselves Fund, but Washington has ing safety nets. The World
World Bank president David who account for half of the from poverty and saw a opposed it. Bank estimates between 88
Malpass said. world's poor, miss out on better life ahead. "If the global response fails million and 115 million peo-
Global economic growth is distance learning. Developing countries are the world's poor and vulner- ple could slip into extreme
expected to fall by 5.2% this "Many of the new poor seeking more assistance able people now, the losses poverty this year, with an-
year, more than in the past are likely to be engaged from the World Bank, other they have experienced to other 23 million to 35 million
eight decades. in informal services, con- financial institutions and date may be dwarfed by in 2021.q

Officials: Nigerian migrant burned alive in Libya's Tripoli

By SAMY MAGDY Associated Press ecutors for investigation, it said. In May, the family of a slain Libyan Oct. 5, it said Tuesday.
CAIRO (AP) — A migrant worker "The young man was burned alive, human trafficker attacked a group Migrants typically pass through Lib-
was burned to death in the Libyan in yet again another senseless of migrants in the desert town of ya on their way to Europe, depart-
capital, U.N. and government offi- crime against migrants in the coun- Mizdah, shooting and killing at ing from Tripoli's rocky coastline in
cials said Wednesday, the latest in try," tweeted Federico Soda, the least 30 migrants. mostly from Ban- inflatable dinghies.
abuses that migrants and refuges chief in Libya for the International gladesh, according to the U.N. mi- The Libyan coast guard, trained
face in the conflict-stricken coun- Organization for Migration. gration agency. by the European Union to keep
try. The migrant's death underscores In July, Libyan authorities shot dead migrants from reaching European
The Interior Ministry of the U.N.-sup- the perils that migrants face in Lib- three Sudanese migrants in the shores, intercepts boats at sea and
ported government said three Lib- ya, which has emerged as a major western coastal town of Khoms. returns them to Libya.
yans on Tuesday stormed a factory transit point for African and Arab The migrants were reportedly try- Rights groups say those efforts
in the Tripoli neighborhood of Ta- migrants fleeing war and poverty ing to escape after they were inter- have left migrants at the mercy of
joura, where African migrants were to Europe amid years-long chaos cepted by the Libyan coast guard brutal armed groups or confined in
working. The Libyans detained one following the 2011 uprising that in the Mediterranean Sea and re- squalid and overcrowded deten-
the workers, a Nigerian, poured toppled and killed longtime dicta- turned to shore. tion centers that lack adequate
gasoline on him and set him on fire, tor Moammar Gadhafi. So far in 2020, the U.N. migration food and water.
the ministry said in a statement. No In 2017, CNN aired a video of agency has reported around 200 The EU agreed earlier this year to
motive for the shocking crime was a slave auction in Libya where deaths of migrants in Libya and end an anti-migrant smuggler op-
given. migrant Africans were "sold like at least 275 missing in the Mediter- eration involving only surveillance
Three other migrants suffered burns goats," causing global outrage, ranean Sea. Around 9,500 were aircraft and instead deploy military
and were being treated in a near- and led the U.N. Security Council returned to Libya this year, com- ships to concentrate on upholding
by hospital, the ministry said. The al- to hold an emergency meeting to pared to 9,225 in 2019. The bodies a widely flouted U.N. arms embar-
leged perpetrators, all in their 30s, condemn "heinous abuses of hu- of 11 migrants washed up on Lib- go that's considered key to wind-
were arrested and referred to pros- man rights." yan shores between Sep. 28 and ing down Libya's relentless war.q