Horniman museum is first government-funded institution to hand back artefacts looted by British forces in 1897
A London museum is to return 72 treasured artefacts, including its collection of Benin bronzes, to Nigeria in what experts described as an “immensely significant” moment.
The Horniman museum said it would transfer the ownership of the historic objects to the Nigerian government after an unanimous vote by its board of trustees.
Continue reading...Mercenary group does not officially exist but is playing a more public role and openly recruiting in Russia
Three billboards in the Ural city of Ekaterinburg shine a light on what was once one of Russia’s most shadowy organisations, the private military contractor Wagner.
“Motherland, Honour, Blood, Bravery. WAGNER”, one of the posters reads.
Continue reading...Country’s government says Sexual Minorities Uganda ‘operating illegally’ in east African nation
The Ugandan government has suspended the country’s leading gay rights organisation, accusing it of operating illegally in the east African nation, in a move campaigners condemned as “a clear witch-hunt”.
The National Bureau for Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) – part of the internal affairs ministry – announced on Friday that it had suspended Sexual Minorities Uganda (Smug) for not registering with the authorities.
Continue reading...Special unit spread fake news about leftist politician, Oginga Odinga, seen as threat to British interests in 1960s
British cold war propagandists smeared Kenyan vice-president Oginga Odinga in the 1960s in “black” propaganda operations, newly declassified files reveal.
The Foreign Office’s propaganda arm, the Information Research Department (IRD), targeted the Kenyan nationalist in a three-year campaign run by its dirty tricks section, the Special Editorial Unit (SEU).
Continue reading...With elections due next year, analysts fear political motives could be driving the rising violence and tensions in the region
Fears of a new wave of violence in the restive east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo are growing after weeks of deadly protests against UN peacekeepers and rising regional tensions.
Thirty-six people, including four UN peacekeepers, have died in the past two weeks as hundreds of protesters vandalised and set fire to UN buildings in several cities in eastern frontier provinces.
Continue reading...As presidential elections approach, engagement appears low among under-35s – but some see staying away from the polls as a form of protest
A growing number of 18- to 35-year-olds say they are not planning to vote in Kenya’s presidential elections next week.
About 40% of the 22 million people registered to vote in Tuesday’s elections are aged 18 to 35. Under-35s make up 75% of the country’s population.
Continue reading...UN says terror organisation, whose affiliate recently attacked Mali’s most important military base, ‘is once again the leader of global jihad’
It was one of Ayman al-Zawahiri’s last victories. Just over a week before the al-Qaida leader was killed in Kabul by missiles fired from a US drone, militants from the organisation’s biggest affiliate in sub-Saharan Africa attacked the most important military base in Mali.
The tactics of the attack were familiar – suicide bombers blowing a gap in defences to allow gunmen to reached stunned defenders – but the operation marked a major escalation.
Continue reading...More than 5,600 displaced and 400,000 left without clean water after heavy rain causes two rivers to burst banks
At least 24 people have died and more than 5,600 people have been displaced by flash flooding in eastern Uganda.
Two rivers burst their banks after heavy rainfall swept through the city of Mbale over the weekend, submerging homes, shops and roads, and uprooting water pipes. About 400,000 people have been left without clean water, and more than 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres) of crops have been destroyed.
Continue reading...Dozens of zama-zamas – illegal miners from other countries – now being held in crime crackdown following music video shoot attack
Dozens of men detained after the alleged gang-rape of eight women on a music video shoot in South Africa are expected back in court on Wednesday as police made more arrests of artisanal miners blamed by local people for widespread violence.
The arrests on Tuesday near Krugersdorp, a city north-west of Johannesburg, bring the total number of people detained since the attack to more than 120.
Continue reading...Crew filming music video at abandoned mine in Krugersdorp was attacked by armed men, police say
More than 80 men suspected of the gang rapes of eight women and the armed robbery of a video production crew in the South African town of Krugersdorp, west of Johannesburg, have appeared in court.
The men were arrested at an abandoned mining site following the rapes and robbery near the disused mine.
Continue reading...New classification would mean a total ban on international trade in the animal’s body parts, as climate crisis and poaching hit populations
Hippos could be added to the list of the world’s most endangered animals because of dwindling populations caused by the climate crisis, poaching and the ivory trade.
The semi-aquatic mammals are found in lakes and rivers across sub-Saharan Africa, with an estimated population of 115,000-130,000. As well as the trade in ivory – found in its teeth – and animal parts, they are threatened by habitat loss and degradation, and the effects of global heating.
Continue reading...Exclusive: leaders expected to say at Cop27 they need accesss to their oil and gas reserves despite effect on global heating
Leaders of African countries are likely to use the next UN climate summit in November to push for massive new investment in fossil fuels in Africa, according to documents seen by the Guardian.
New exploration for gas, and the exploitation of Africa’s vast reserves of oil, would make it close to impossible for the world to limit global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
Continue reading...University council supports claim for 97 artefacts, including bronzes, currently held in city’s museums
Oxford University could return almost 100 artefacts that were looted by British colonial forces in 1897, after Nigeria requested the repatriation of the cultural items this year.
The 97 objects, including bronzes, were taken from Benin City by British troops and are currently held in the collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum and the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.
Continue reading...Announcement on Friday follows report hours earlier from Brazil of first such death outside Africa
Spain has reported what is thought to be Europe’s first monkeypox-related death in the current outbreak of the disease.
Brazil reported earlier on Friday the first monkeypox-related death outside Africa in the current wave.
Continue reading...Naomi Klein and Caroline Lucas among signatories to letter voicing concerns over country’s hosting of climate summit
A hundred days before the Cop27 summit is due to start in Sharm el-Sheikh, a group of environmentalists and activists have expressed alarm over Egypt’s ability to host the event successfully because of its poor record on human rights, as thousands of prisoners of conscience remain behind bars.
“We are deeply concerned that [a successful conference] will not be possible due to the repressive actions of the Egyptian government,” they said. “Indeed, it seems more likely at this point that the conference will be used to whitewash human rights abuses in the country.”
Continue reading...Exclusive: Tigrinya speakers say they face beatings, detention and privation, and blame UN for ‘abandoning’ them, despite right to be in Ethiopia
Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia say they are being targeted for arbitrary arrest and forcible relocation to war-torn parts of the country, despite having UN permission to remain in Ethiopia.
Government security officers are accused of rounding up, abusing and unlawfully detaining refugees who have legal status, as well as Eritreans who have foreign citizenship.
Continue reading...Protesters and United Nations personnel among dead after incidents that left about 50 injured
At least 15 people were killed and about 50 wounded during a second day of violent anti-United Nations protests in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s eastern cities of Goma and Butembo, authorities have said.
The dead included demonstrators and UN personnel as UN sites were attacked by crowds.
Continue reading...Electoral commission – controlled by President Kais Saied – says 95% voted yes in constitutional referendum, which was boycotted by opposition groups
Tunisian president Kais Saied has celebrated the almost certain victory of the yes vote in a referendum on a new constitution that hands him wide-ranging powers and risks the return of authoritarian rule in the birthplace of the Arab spring.
Preliminary results for the vote, held a year to the day after Saied sacked the government and froze parliament in what rivals have called a coup, were due late on Tuesday, with a full tally not expected until next month. However, according to an exit poll taken by the Sigma Conseil institute, an overwhelming 92-93% of those who voted on Monday supported the new constitution.
Continue reading...Analysis: Foreign minister seeks to win friends and influence people in countries where closeness can be traced back to USSR
Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, is arriving in Uganda on the latest stop of his tour of Africa, aimed at rallying support on the continent for Russia as the war in Ukraine goes into its sixth month.
Many African leaders have refused to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and have accused the US and Nato of starting or prolonging the conflict.
Continue reading...Low turnout suggests voters unconcerned by Kais Saied’s new constitution, which some say marks the end of the Arab spring
Tunisians were on Monday expected to approve giving the president unfettered powers, ending the country’s stumbles towards democratic rule and capping the turbulent decade across the region known as the Arab spring.
As voters trickled to the polls for the referendum, the country that birthed the revolts that rocked the Middle East seemed resigned to a return to pre-revolution autocracy, with a declining economy and political sclerosis sounding the death knell for hopes of widespread reform and free elections that would empower citizens.
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