Category Archives: Africa

World’s conflict zones increased by two-thirds in past three years, report reveals

Posted on by

Wars have spread and intensified, with far-reaching impacts on global economic growth and food security, according to latest Conflict Intensity Index

The proportion of the world engulfed by conflict has grown 65% – equivalent to nearly double the size of India – over the past three years, according to a new report.

Ukraine, Myanmar, the Middle East and a “conflict corridor” around Africa’s Sahel region have seen wars and unrest spread and intensify since 2021, according to the latest Conflict Intensity Index (CII), published by risk analysts Verisk Maplecroft.

Continue reading...

Author Kamel Daoud sued over claim he used life of wife’s patient in novel

Posted on by

Woman says French-Algerian writer’s prize-winning Houris uses her story as she told it to therapist Aicha Dehdouh

Two complaints have been filed in Algeria against the French-Algerian author Kamel Daoud, the winner of France’s most prestigious literary award, and his wife, a therapist, alleging that they used a patient’s life story as the basis for his prize-winning novel.

The writer, the first Algerian novelist to be awarded the Prix Goncourt, won this year’s prize for his novel Houris, a fictional account of a young woman who lost her voice when an Islamist cut her throat during the country’s brutal 1992-2002 civil war.

Continue reading...

Extremist Timbuktu Islamic police chief sentenced to 10 years in jail by ICC

Posted on by

Al-Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud had been convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity

The international criminal court has sentenced an al-Qaida-linked extremist leader to 10 years in prison for war crimes and crimes against humanity carried out when he headed the Islamic police in Timbuktu in Mali, west Africa.

Al-Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud was convicted in June of torture, religious persecution and other inhumane acts. Judges found he was a “key figure” in a reign of terror after Islamic extremist rebels overran the ancient desert city in 2012.

Continue reading...

Miss Universe runner-up to move to Nigeria after South Africa nationality row

Posted on by

Furore over whether Chidimma Adetshina was really South African led to invitation to represent Nigeria

A beauty queen who pulled out of the Miss South Africa competition when her nationality was questioned has said she wants to relocate to Nigeria, after coming second in the Miss Universe pageant while representing the West African country.

Chidimma Adetshina, whose father is Nigerian, was crowned Miss Universe Africa and Oceania and came runner-up to Denmark’s Victoria Kjær Theilvig in Mexico on Saturday night.

Continue reading...

South African officials weigh up rescue mission for illegal miners underground

Posted on by

Police say 350-400 people have stayed in Stilfontein mine to avoid arrest after minister vowed to ‘smoke them out’

South African authorities are assessing whether it is safe to rescue potentially thousands of illegal miners who may be trapped underground, after police stopped food, water and medicine being delivered to them about two weeks ago to try to force the miners to the surface.

A police spokesperson, Athlenda Mathe, insisted to reporters on Tuesday that the miners were not trapped in the abandoned goldmine in Stilfontein, a town about 100 miles south-west of Johannesburg, but rather staying underground to avoid being arrested.

Continue reading...

Australian goldminer to pay Mali $160m to free detained CEO and executives

Posted on by

Group were held after a meeting about what mining firm referred to as unsubstantiated claims regarding taxes and levies

An Australian goldmining company has agreed to pay $160m ($A247m, £126m) to Mali’s government after the west African country’s junta detained its chief executive and two other employees.

Resolute Mining’s chief executive, Terence Holohan, and the other two employees were detained on 8 November in Mali’s capital, Bamako, at the end of a meeting with government officials over tax and other state claims that the miner had previously said were “unsubstantiated”.

Continue reading...

Ed Sheeran: I wish I wasn’t on 40th-anniversary version of Band Aid

Posted on by

Singer says his ‘understanding of the narrative’ around Do They Know It’s Christmas? has changed since 2014 appearance

Ed Sheeran has said he would rather not be on the forthcoming 40th-anniversary version of Band Aid charity single Do They Know It’s Christmas?, aligning himself with criticism of it as dehumanising and damaging to Africans.

Sheeran is one of an all-star cast to be drawn from three previous recordings of the song, in 1984, 2004 and 2014 – he appeared on the latter version. Producer Trevor Horn has mashed up three sets of performances into a new “Ultimate Mix”, which will be released on 25 November, and also features George Michael, Robbie Williams, Sinéad O’Connor and many more.

Continue reading...

X-rays show shrapnel and bullets buried in children caught in Sudan war

Posted on by

Images released by MSF doctors highlight impact of conflict in the country, with medical supplies and aid unable to reach people due to fighting

A series of X-rays showing a piece of shrapnel buried deep inside a 20-month-old girl’s head and a bullet embedded in an 18-month-old boy’s chest are among images released by medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) revealing the impact of the war in Sudan on children.

The two babies were treated at Khartoum’s Bashair teaching hospital.

Continue reading...

Migrant rights advocate held in Tunisia under anti-terrorist investigation

Posted on by

Rights group says Abdallah Said’s case is a troubling first for the country amid president’s increasing crackdown

Tunisian anti-terrorist investigators are handling the case of a leading advocate for migrants who has been taken into custody, in what the head of a rights group said was a troubling first for the country.

Abdallah Said, a Tunisian of Chadian origin, was questioned along with the secretary general and treasurer of his association, Enfants de la Lune, said Romdhane Ben Amor, the spokesperson for the Tunisian Forum for Social and Economic Rights.

Continue reading...

Nigeria celebrates victory over South African rivals with Miss Universe runner-up

Posted on by

Chidimma Adetshina crowned Miss Universe Africa and Oceania after she was stripped of South African identity documents

Beauty queen Chidimma Adetshina’s second place in this year’s Miss Universe competition was not only an occasion for Nigerians to rejoice at their highest ever placing in the global pageant, but an opportunity to celebrate a victory over their continental rivals South Africa.

Adetshina came first runner-up to Denmark’s Victoria Kjær Theilvig and was also crowned Miss Universe Africa and Oceania in Mexico on Saturday night.

Continue reading...

Women’s rights groups fear FGM is rife among Sudanese refugees in Chad

Posted on by

Practice banned in both countries but widespread among those displaced by Sudan’s civil war, say aid workers

Women’s rights campaigners have spoken of their concern over the spread of female genital mutilation among Sudanese refugees in camps across the border in Chad.

Both countries have outlawed the practice but it continues in secret. The UN children’s agency, Unicef, says that about 87% of Sudanese women aged 14-49 have been cut – one of the highest rates in the world. In Chad, the figure is 34.1%, though rates are higher in the south and east, which is where the camps for Sudanese people have been set up.

Continue reading...

First known US case of person infected with new mpox strain reported

Posted on by

Person acquired clade Ib while traveling to east Africa and treated in California for mild illness, said health officials

US health officials reported Saturday the first known case of a person infected with the new mpox strain in the country.

The person acquired mpox while traveling to east Africa and was treated for a mild illness in San Mateo, California, according to health officials. The person is isolating at home and is recovering, and there is no evidence that mpox is spreading in the United States.

Continue reading...

Rescuers search for survivors after building collapses in Tanzania, killing at least one

Posted on by

Dozens of people remain trapped in underground shops after collapse of multi-storey building in Dar es Salaam

Rescuers were using their bare hands, drills and sledgehammers to reach dozens of people trapped under a building that collapsed in the centre of Tanzania’s commercial capital, Dar es Salaam.

The multi-storey building in Kariakoo, the East African country’s busiest market, caved in as people were shopping, killing at least one person, the prime minister, Kassim Majaliwa, said.

Continue reading...

Church of England ‘directly responsible’ for John Smyth abuse in Zimbabwe, victim says

Posted on by

Rocky Leanders, then 15, was beaten with wooden paddle by Smyth at camp where boys were made to swim naked

When John Smyth gave a presentation at their school about his Christian holiday camps in 1993, Rocky Leanders and his school friends were “blown away”.

“This is Zimbabwe in the early 90s; the technology wasn’t great. These guys set up a projector with colour videos of speed boats … abseiling, golf, tennis, paddle boarding, swimming pools, diving boards,” recalled Leanders, who was 15 at the time. “We insisted we needed to go.”

Continue reading...

UK court sides with Icelandic firm over artist’s spoof corruption apology

Posted on by

Judge considering complaint by fishing firm Samherji rules artist Odee unlikely to be able to defend work as parody

The property rights of Iceland’s largest fishing company prevail over the right to artistic expression of an artist who spoofed the firm’s website to draw attention to a high-profile corruption scandal, London’s high court has ruled.

For his 2023 work We’re Sorry, the Icelandic artist Oddur Eysteinn Friðriksson, who goes by the moniker Odee, copied the corporate identity of Samherji, a major supplier to Britain’s fish and chips industry, and uploaded on to the spoof website a statement titled “Samherji Apologizes, Pledges Restitution and Cooperation with Authorities”.

Continue reading...

French military systems in Sudan may break UN arms embargo, says Amnesty

Posted on by

Group says it has identified the Galix defence system on armoured vehicles imported from the UAE and calls for government to investigate

France must investigate the use of its military systems by Sudan’s paramilitary forces, which could be in breach of an arms embargo, Amnesty International has said.

The group said it had identified the French-made Galix defence system being used in Sudan on armoured vehicles manufactured in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – considered a key supplier of weapons to the Rapid Support Force (RSF).

Continue reading...

Fears for spread of malaria in Africa as study finds resistance to frontline drug

Posted on by

Signs of resistance to artemisinin in tenth of children with severe malaria similar to situation in Asia, say researchers

Researchers have found “troubling” evidence for the first time that a lifesaving malaria drug is becoming less effective in young African children with serious infections.

A study of children being treated in hospital for malaria in Uganda, presented at a major conference on Thursday, found signs of resistance to artemisinin in one patient in 10.

Continue reading...

‘I have lost everything’: southern Africa battles hunger amid historic drought

Posted on by

Crops have failed in several countries, with 27m people at risk of hunger according to World Food Programme

Emmanuel Himoonga paced his dry field, picking up stalks of maize that had been bleached almost to bone white.

The 61-year-old chief of Shakumbila, a mainly agricultural community of about 7,000 people roughly 70 miles west of Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, had seen droughts before.

Continue reading...

South African tiger farms illegally smuggling body parts, says charity

Posted on by

Biggest tiger farms outside Asia are operating freely in South Africa, Four Paws animal charity says

The largest tiger farms outside Asia are operating freely in South Africa, facilitating the illegal smuggling of tiger body parts, according to a report by an animal welfare charity.

Research by Four Paws, which is campaigning to shut down South Africa’s big cat industry, found 103 places in the country where tigers were kept in captivity in 2023 or 2024 or had been kept during the previous three years.

Continue reading...

Mystery surrounds John Smyth after leaving UK and Zimbabwe for South Africa

Posted on by

Smyth enjoyed ‘opulent lifestyle’ in Cape Town after he was barred from Zimbabwe, where he abused boys at summer camps

The evangelical Christian barrister John Smyth abused as many as 130 boys and young men in the UK, Zimbabwe and possibly other African countries but an independent review has said there remains little concrete information on his time in South Africa.

The review into the Anglican church’s handling of Smyth’s abuses said he might have been brought to justice had Justin Welby, who on Tuesday announced he would step down as archbishop of Canterbury, formally reported him to the police when he found out in 2013.

Continue reading...