Category Archives: Africa

Donors quit Prince Harry’s charity when he left UK, says Sentebale chair

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Sophie Chandauka claims there is ‘significant correlation’ with drop in funders and prince’s move to the US

Donors abandoned the charity Prince Harry founded in memory of his late mother when he left the UK, the chair of Sentebale has said amid a bitter media row in which she accused the prince of trying to “eject” her through “bullying” and “harassment”.

Sophie Chandauka told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme that there was a “significant correlation” between a drop in funders and the Duke of Sussex’s departure to the US after the controversy caused by his rift with the royal family.

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Prince Harry accused of bullying ‘at scale’ by chair of charity he founded

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Sophie Chandauka says duke unleashed ‘Sussex machine’ but source close to ex-trustees claims accusation baseless

The chair of a charity set up by Prince Harry has accused him of “harassment and bullying at scale” after he and several others quit the organisation earlier this week.

The Duke of Sussex was said to have initiated the campaign by the “unleashing of the Sussex machine”.

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Kenyan man who spent decade on death row sues London police for role in wrongful conviction

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New emails reveal ‘panic’ inside the Home Office at the case of Ali Kololo, who was wrongly imprisoned for the 2011 murder of British tourist David Tebbutt

A Kenyan man who was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death over an attack on British tourists is suing the Metropolitan police over its role in the case.

Ali Kololo was imprisoned for more than a decade in what his lawyers called “appalling conditions” before being released when his conviction was quashed in 2023.

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Six Russian tourists die after submarine sinks off Egypt coast

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Another 39 people rescued and brought to shore after incident on vessel at Red Sea resort

Six Russian tourists have died and 39 people have been rescued after a submarine sank near the resort of Hurghada, the latest in a series of fatal accidents involving tourists on Egypt’s Red Sea coast.

Four survivors, including at least one child, were admitted to intensive care, according to an official statement.

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Trump names pro-Israel media activist as US ambassador to South Africa

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Leo Brent Bozell III, founder of a conservative media group, is president’s nomination amid rising diplomatic tensions

Donald Trump has nominated a conservative, pro-Israel media activist as US ambassador to South Africa, at a time when the relationship between the two countries is at a nadir.

Leo Brent Bozell III founded the Media Research Center – whose website states it is “a blog site designed to broadcast conservative values, culture, and politics [and] to expose liberal media bias” – in 1987.

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Charity faces legal action after relocated elephants in Malawi allegedly kill 10 people

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People living near Kasungu national park say they are living in fear after translocation of 263 elephants by International Fund for Animal Welfare

People living on the edge of a protected area in Malawi are taking legal action against an NGO that moved more than 250 elephants into the area, which they say have killed at least 10 people.

Villagers near Kasungu national park, which is Malawi’s second largest and crosses the Zambian border, say they are living in fear for their livelihoods and safety after 263 elephants were introduced in July 2022, causing a sharp spike in human-wildlife conflict. Ten people claiming to be affected by the translocation from Liwonde national park have begun legal action against the International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw), demanding that the conservation NGO construct adequate fencing to protect the 167 villages around the park and compensate local people for the damage caused by the elephants.

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Prince Harry resigns ‘in shock’ from African charity he founded in 2006

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Duke of Sussex and co-founder of Sentebale step down as patrons amid infighting in the organisation

The Duke of Sussex has resigned from an African charity he set up 20 years ago after infighting in the organisation, saying he is “in shock” and “truly heartbroken”.

Prince Harry and the co-founder Prince Seeiso of Lesotho both stepped down as patrons on Tuesday until further notice after trustees quit over a dispute with the chair, Dr Sophie Chandauka, a lawyer who was appointed in 2023.

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South African ambassador expelled from US welcomed home by supporters

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Ebrahim Rasool, declared persona non grata by Washington, was surrounded by crowds at Cape Town airport

The South African ambassador who was expelled from the US and declared persona non grata by the Trump administration was welcomed home on Sunday by hundreds of supporters who sang songs praising him.

Crowds at Cape Town International airport surrounded Ebrahim Rasool and his wife Rosieda as they emerged in the arrivals terminal in their home town, and they needed a police escort to help them navigate their way through the building.

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Power struggle leads to coup in Tigray as war looms between Ethiopia and Eritrea

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Tigray’s interim leader flees as rival faction seizes control, while Ethiopian tanks and troops move to border of Eritrea

Aregawi was building a tour-guiding business when war struck Ethiopia’s Tigray region in 2020. He spent the next two years fighting on the frontline. Now he is among those who fear Tigray is on the brink of conflict once more.

“We don’t want to become a battleground, but it seems like war is near, maybe even inevitable,” he said.

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Sudan’s army recaptures presidential palace in major battlefield gain

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Compound was last bastion in the capital, Khartoum, held by rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces

Sudan’s military has retaken the presidential palace in Khartoum, the last bastion in the capital of rival paramilitary forces, after nearly two years of fighting.

Social media videos showed soldiers inside giving the date as the 21st day of Ramadan, which was Friday. A Sudanese military officer wearing a captain’s epaulettes made the announcement in the video, and confirmed the troops were inside the compound.

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Women in business held back by mobile data’s cost in developing world – report

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Nearly half of female entrepreneurs surveyed by Cherie Blair Foundation for Women do not have regular internet access

The cost of a mobile data package is all that is holding back many female entrepreneurs in developing countries, according to recent research.

While social media marketing is reported to be crucial by female business owners who have access to it, 45% of women in business in low- and middle-income countries said they did not have regular internet access because of the expense and connection issues.

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Hope for endangered penguins as no-fishing zones agreed off South Africa

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Deal will restrict fishing near colonies on Robben Island and Bird Island for 10 years, after long debate between industry and conservationists

Efforts to stop the critically endangered African penguin from going extinct took a step forward on Tuesday after South African conservationists and fishing industry groups reached a legal settlement on no-fishing zones around six of the penguins’ major breeding colonies.

Sardine and anchovy fishing will not be allowed for 12 miles (20km) around the penguin colony off Cape Town on Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned, and Bird Island, across the bay from Gqeberha, also known as Port Elizabeth. There will be more limited closures around four other colonies, according to a court order formalising the agreement.

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US evangelical groups urge Trump to spare HIV/Aids program from aid cuts

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Christian organizations helped create Pepfar, credited with preventing 25m early deaths, particularly in Africa

Christian evangelical organizations instrumental in creating the US program that has saved millions of lives from HIV/Aids are pressing the Trump administration to rescue the scheme from crushing cuts to foreign assistance.

The state department has said that the two-decade-old President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar), which is estimated to have prevented 25m early deaths, is exempt from the cancellation of most US overseas aid. But the program is heavily reliant on logistical support from the US Agency for International Development (USAid), which has seen most of its projects killed off.

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‘We are all Natasha’: senator’s sexual harassment claims roil Nigeria

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Treatment of Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who has been suspended from senate, shines light on women’s rights

Last July, Nigeria’s third-most powerful man gave a rare apology on the floor of the senate which he heads.

Godswill Akpabio had chastised his colleague Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan for speaking out of turn, saying: “We are not in a nightclub”. But after receiving what he said was a deluge of insulting text messages from Nigerians, he apologised publicly a few days later.

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Marco Rubio says South Africa’s ambassador to US is ‘no longer welcome’

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US secretary of state accuses Ebrahim Rasool of being a ‘race-baiting politician who hates America’ and Donald Trump

The US is expelling South Africa’s ambassador to Washington, with the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, accusing the envoy of hating the US and Donald Trump.

“South Africa’s ambassador to the United States is no longer welcome in our great country,” Rubio posted on X on Friday.

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Weather tracker: Cyclone Jude causes chaos in Mozambique

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More than 200mm of rain fell in 24 hours, destroying 900 homes and leaving 40,000 people without power

Cyclone Jude was the third cyclone to hit Mozambique this season. First spotted as a depression last Friday to the south-west of the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, it intensified over the next few days to a moderate tropical storm, affecting northern Madagascar on Saturday and killing at least one person.

Jude strengthened into a tropical cyclone as it tracked westwards over the Mozambique Channel, where sea surface temperatures of close to 30C provided the heat and moisture necessary to fuel the cyclone.

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Trump’s ‘drill, baby, drill’ agenda could keep the world hooked on oil and gas

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The US president is making energy deals with Japan and Ukraine, and in Africa has even touted resurrecting coal

Donald Trump’s repeated mantra of “drill, baby, drill” demands that more oil and gas be extracted in the United States, but the president has set his sights on an even broader goal: keeping the world hooked on planet-heating fossil fuels for as long as possible.

In deals being formulated with countries such as Japan and Ukraine, Trump is using US leverage in tariffs and military aid to bolster the flow of oil and gas around the world. In Africa, his administration has even touted the resurrection of coal, the dirtiest of all fossil fuels, to bring energy to the continent.

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Biased laws and poverty driving huge rise in female prisoners – report

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First such study finds laws on abortion, debt and dress help increase rate of women being jailed twice as fast as for men

Poverty, abuse and discriminatory laws are driving a huge rise in the number of women in prison globally, according to a new report.

With the rise of the far right and an international backlash against women’s rights, the research said there was a risk that laws would increasingly be used to target women, forcing more behind bars.

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Sierra Leone’s immigration chief fired after footage showed him with fugitive drug lord

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President sacks Alusine Kanneh after video of him with Johannes Leijdekkers, one of Europe’s most wanted

Sierra Leone’s president has fired the head of the immigration service days after footage was published showing him receiving a birthday gift from a fugitive Dutch drug kingpin.

The footage of Alusine Kanneh being handed a present by Johannes Leijdekkers – which has not been independently verified by the Guardian – was published by the investigative outlet Follow the Money and the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad on Friday.

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Drone attacks killing hundreds of civilians across Africa, says report

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Calls grow to control military use of unmanned aerial vehicles which, despite claims of precise targeting, are claiming civilian lives

Almost 1,000 civilians have been killed and hundreds more injured in military drone attacks across Africa as the proliferation of unmanned aerial vehicles continues unchecked on the continent, according to a report.

At least 50 separate deadly strikes by armed forces in Africa have been confirmed during the three years up to November 2024, with analysts describing a “striking pattern of civilian harm” with little or no accountability.

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