Kinshasa (AFP)

Donations, songs, warnings: African stars, starting with their footballers and singers, donned their influencer suits on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to raise awareness of their "brothers and sisters" about the danger of spread of Covid-19 on the continent.

It was by putting his hand in the wallet that the Senegalese footballer from Liverpool Sadio Mané expressed his support. The star striker has donated 30 million CFA francs (about 45,000 euros) to the fight against the Covid-19 in his country, according to his manager quoted in the media.

In Ivory Coast, the retired balloon player Didier Drogba donated masks to the cathedral of Abidjan, with this warning: "My sisters, my brothers, I ask you to take the subject very seriously, because we we tend to be too light about our reactions to the situation. "

"My brothers, my sisters, my dear parents, I ask you to respect the instructions given by the authorities of our countries and the world health organization. Let us do it, out of Love. I love you", launched another famous retired footballer, Cameroonian Samuel Eto'o.

Affected after Asia and Europe, sub-Saharan Africa counted only 1,642 cases for about twenty deaths, according to an AFP count at 11:00 GMT Thursday from officially declared cases.

The continent fears a spread that would put its fragile health structures to the test.

In South Africa, the most affected country on the continent in number of cases (709 cases confirmed on Wednesday), the captain of the Springboks, world rugby champions, Siya Kolisi, supports the confinement decreed by President Cyril Ramaphosa in a hilarious video, sitting on the toilet reading watching his two children in the bathtub. Containment is scheduled to begin Friday.

- Sacred union -

The musicians are not outdone. In Dakar, Youssou N'Dour, singer and founder of the Futurs Media Group (written press, radio, television), handed over a batch of sanitary materials and equipment to the Ministry of Health in mid-March.

The artists play the sacred union around the prevention messages of the authorities, even the most rebellious voices in ordinary times.

In Uganda, singer Bobi Wine, a member of parliament again arrested in early January for his opposition to President Yoweri Museveni, launched to his fans "watch social distancing and quarantine", in a video on Twitter.

In Senegal, the rappers collective "Y en a marre", usually committed against corruption and for the renewal of political staff, released a song and a clip, "Fagaru Ci Corona" ("warn the corona in Wolof").

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the stars of rumba sing for once something other than love, its joys and its torments. "Fally in confinement mode, the kisses stop", launched on Twitter Fally Ipupa in an improvised melody on an acoustic guitar.

"So please my dear brothers and sisters, let's respect confinement, it's very very important, stay at home, respect the instructions given by the authorities and the WHO," added the Kinshasa crooner.

The authorities of his country did not go as far as confinement, decreeing the closing of borders, public places, and the isolation of Kinshasa.

Serious voice and tone of circumstance, his compatriot Koffi Olomide warned the Congolese against the "Kuluna-virus", skillful remixing of the term "kuluna" which indicates armed gangs of Kinshasa, one of the urban legends and terrors of capital of ten million people.

In Ivory Coast, the singer DJ Kerozen, star of the offbeat coupé, also went there with his song on the networks: "'There's a corona, let's respect the hygiene instructions, the case is serious oh. (.. .) Even Mbengué (France in slang) over there is spoiled, Lord must + learn + we want to live! ".

Pan-African star and reference for generations of musicians, the Cameroonian saxophonist Manu Dibango died in France as a result of the coronavirus.

The composer of "Soul Makoss" is the first world celebrity to succumb to the virus. Congolese singer Aurlus Mabélé, a figure in the soukouss - a modern version of Congolese rumba -, infected with the coronavirus, also died a week ago in Paris.

burs / st / sd

© 2020 AFP