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WORLD NEWS Friday 29 January 2021
Watchdog: Least corrupt nations produce best virus response

By DAVID RISING sponse could be widely
Associated Press seen around the world,
BERLIN (AP) — Countries according to the report’s
with the least corruption analysis.
have been best positioned For example, Uruguay
to weather the health and scored 71 — putting it at
economic challenges of 21st place on the list. It in-
the coronavirus pandemic, vests heavily in health care
according to a closely- and has a strong epidemio-
watched annual study re- logical surveillance system,
leased Thursday by an anti- which has helped not only
graft organization. with COVID-19 but also
Transparency Interna- other diseases like yellow
tional’s 2020 Corruption fever and Zika, Transpar-
Perceptions Index, which ency said.
measures the perception By contrast, Bangladesh,
of public sector corrup- which scored 26 and
tion according to experts placed 146th on the list,
and businesspeople, con- “invests little in health care
cluded that countries that while corruption flourishes
performed well invested during COVID-19, rang-
more in health care, were ing from bribery in health
“better able to provide clinics to misappropriated
universal health coverage In this Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2020 file photo Rohingya refugees board a naval ship to be transported aid,” Transparency wrote.
and are less likely to violate to an isolated island in the Bay of Bengal, in Chittagong, Bangladesh. Associated Press “Corruption is also perva-
democratic norms.” sive in the procurement of
“COVID-19 is not just a cline under the presiden- in 2019, 71 in 2018 and 75 in relief package raised seri- medical supplies.”
health and economic cri- cy of Donald Trump, with 2017, and was down to the ous concerns and marked “While the government
sis,” said Transparency a score of 67 on a scale lowest level since figures a retreat from longstand- communicates openly
head Delia Ferreira Rubio. where 0 is “highly corrupt” for comparison have been ing democratic norms pro- about the measures and
“It is a corruption crisis - and and 100 is “very clean.” available. moting accountable gov- policies it puts in place,
one that we are currently That still put the U.S. 25th on “In addition to alleged con- ernment,” said the report more transparency is
failing to manage.” the list in a tie with Chile, flicts of interest and abuse by Transparency, which is needed around public pro-
This year’s index showed but behind many other of office at the highest lev- based in Berlin. curement for COVID-19 re-
the United States hitting a western democracies. It el, in 2020 weak oversight The link between corrup- covery,” the organization
new low amid a steady de- dropped from scores of 69 of the $1 trillion COVID-19 tion and coronavirus re- wrote. q

U.S. ‘directly’ presses Eritrea to withdraw forces from Tigray

By CARA ANNA dominated Ethiopia’s sion by these ambassa-
Associated Press government for nearly dors to potential territorial
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — three decades. The Tigray war between Eritrea and
The United States says it leaders were marginalized Ethiopia can only be dis-
has directly “pressed se- after Prime Minister Abiy ingenuous in content and
nior levels” of Eritrea’s Ahmed took office in 2018, vicious in intent,” Eritrea’s
government to immedi- and each side regards the statement said, expressing
ately withdraw its troops other as illegitimate. “profound dismay at their
from neighboring Ethiopia, Ethiopia has repeatedly provocative and ill-inten-
where witnesses have de- denied the presence of tioned swipe.”The Tigray
scribed them looting and Eritrean soldiers, who some region remains largely cut
hunting down civilians in witnesses have estimated off from the outside world
the embattled Tigray re- in the thousands. Now and Ethiopia has blocked
gion. concerns are growing that almost all journalists from
A State Department the Eritrean forces refuse entering, complicating ef-
spokesperson in an email to leave. Eritrea remains forts to verify assertions by
to The Associated Press on an enemy of the fugitive the warring sides. In this Nov. 21, 2020, file photo, refugees who fled the conflict
Thursday said Washington Tigray leaders after a two- Meanwhile, humanitarian in Ethiopia’s Tigray region arrive on the banks of the Tekeze
has conveyed “grave” decade border war that workers have had limited River on the Sudan-Ethiopia border, in Hamdayet, eastern
concerns about credible ended under Abiy. access to the estimated 6 Sudan. Associated Press
reports of abuses. There Eritrea’s information minis- million people in Tigray as
were no details on how of- try on Thursday published food and other supplies pealed for more financial to reach rural areas of Ti-
ficials with Eritrea, one of a statement by the coun- run short and concerns support. “There is no area gray, a largely agricultural
the world’s most secretive try’s embassy in the U.S. about starvation grow. which is not affected by region. The ICRC is one of
countries, responded. responding to an open The situation is “dete- this conflict ... the conflict the few international or-
Eritrea has said little pub- letter this week by for- riorating every day, every is everywhere.” ganizations to maintain its
licly about the conflict in mer U.S. ambassadors to minute,” the president of The Ethiopia head of del- operations in Tigray after
Tigray as Ethiopian sol- Ethiopia that expressed the Ethiopian Red Cross egation for the Interna- fighting began.
diers fight forces loyal to concern about the Ti- Society, Ato Abera Tola, tional Committee for the “We’re helping, but it’s
the now-fugitive Tigray re- gray conflict and Eritrea’s told reporters on Thursday Red Cross, Katia Sorin, said a drop in the ocean of
gional leaders who once involvement.”The allu- as Red Cross entities ap- they still had not been able need,” Sorin said.q