Category Archives: Africa

Jacob Zuma sought to hand state assets to allies, finds corruption report

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Inquiry says South Africa’s ruling ANC ‘should be ashamed’ by alleged efforts to steal vast sums

Jacob Zuma has been accused of systematic and “unlawful” efforts to give business allies control of billions of dollars worth of state assets, by the judge charged with investigating wrongdoing during the former president’s years in power in South Africa.

Raymond Zondo, who was appointed in 2018 to lead an inquiry into allegations of systematic corruption under Zuma’s rule, handed his latest report to the current president, Cyril Ramaphosa, on Friday.

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Ethiopian drought leading to ‘dramatic’ increase in child marriage, Unicef warns

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With hunger across Horn of Africa and 600,000 children out of school, ‘desperate’ parents push more girls into early marriage

Drought-afflicted areas of Ethiopia are seeing “dramatic” increases in child marriage as the worst climate-induced emergency for 40 years pushes people to the brink, the head of Unicef has said.

Three consecutive failed rainy seasons have brought hunger, malnutrition and mass displacement to millions of people in the Horn of Africa, including parts of Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and Djibouti.

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South Africa may be entering fifth Covid wave earlier than expected

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Rise in infections appears to be driven by Omicron sub-variants, say health officials

South Africa may be entering a fifth Covid wave earlier than expected after a sustained rise in infections over the past 14 days that seems to be driven by the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron sub-variants, health officials and scientists have said.

The country that has recorded the most coronavirus cases and deaths on the African continent only exited a fourth wave around January and had predicted a fifth wave could start in May or June, early in the southern hemisphere winter.

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‘Relentless’ destruction of rainforest continuing despite Cop26 pledge

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Tropics lost 11.1m hectares of tree cover in 2021, including forest critical to limiting global heating and biodiversity loss, finds World Resources Institute

Pristine rainforests were once again destroyed at a relentless rate in 2021, according to new figures, prompting concerns governments will not meet a Cop26 deal to halt and reverse deforestation by the end of the decade.

From the Brazilian Amazon to the Congo basin, the tropics lost 11.1m hectares of tree cover last year, including 3.75m ha of primary forest critical to limiting global heating and biodiversity loss.

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Priti Patel’s Rwanda asylum seeker plan faces first legal challenge

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Charity Freedom from Torture says it has ‘serious concerns’ about lawfulness of policy

Priti Patel’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda is facing its first legal challenge after a charity instructed lawyers to demand the disclosure of documents because of fears the policy is contrary to international law.

In a pre-action letter to the Home Office, which is expected to lead to a judicial review claim, the solicitors Leigh Day stated that the charity Freedom from Torture “has serious concerns about the lawfulness of the policy”.

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Janjaweed militia blamed for attacks that left at least 200 dead in Darfur

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Death toll likely to rise, say witnesses to indiscriminate attacks on Kreinik and El Geneina by Sudan’s notorious Rapid Support Forces

At least 200 people are now known to have died in West Darfur in the latest attack on civilians and local forces blamed on Janjaweed militia.

Darfur, the semi-arid western region of Sudan where a vicious civil war erupted in 2003, has seen a new outbreak of fighting over the past few months as rival groups clash over water and grazing land, shortages of which are being exacerbated by the climate crisis.

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Mali jihadists claim capture of fighter from Russia’s Wagner group

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Islamist group says it captured mercenary from Kremlin-linked private security firm

A jihadist group in Mali claims to have captured a fighter from the Kremlin-linked Wagner mercenary group reportedly fighting Islamist militants in the west African country.

“In the first week of April, [we] captured a soldier of the Russian Wagner forces in the Segou region in central Mali,” the GSIM (the Group to Support Islam and Muslims) said in a statement sent to AFP overnight.

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Sudan: at least 168 people killed in violence in Darfur region, aid group says

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Fears death toll from Sunday’s clashes could rise after armed tribesmen attacked villages of non-Arab Massalit minority

Clashes between rival groups in Sudan’s Darfur killed at least 168 people on Sunday, an aid group has said, in the latest bout of deadly violence to hit the restive region.

Darfur, which was ravaged by civil war that erupted in 2003, has seen a spike in deadly conflict since October last year triggered by disputes mainly over land, livestock and access to water and grazing.

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After the relentless rain, South Africa sounds the alarm on the climate crisis

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Many are still missing after this month’s floods. Extreme weather is becoming more frequent, and it can be devastating

Survivors of South Africa’s devastating floods have described “sheet upon sheet of relentless rain” that washed away entire houses, bridges and roads, killing about 450 people and making thousands homeless.

The storm, which delivered close to an entire year’s usual rainfall in 48 hours, took meteorologists by surprise and has been blamed by experts on climate change. The new disaster comes after three tropical cyclones and two tropical storms hit south-east Africa in just six weeks in the first months of this year.

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More than 100 killed at Nigerian illegal oil refinery blast

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Authorities say victims ‘burnt beyond recognition’ in explosion at bunkering site in Imo state

More than 100 people were killed overnight in an explosion at an illegal oil refining depot on the border of Nigeria’s Rivers and Imo states, a local government official and an environmental group said on Saturday.

“The fire outbreak occurred at an illegal bunkering site and it affected over 100 people who were burnt beyond recognition,” the state commissioner for petroleum resources, Goodluck Opiah, said.

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Three officers killed in central Nigeria as gunmen storm police station

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Attack claimed by Islamic State triggered fierce gun battle in Kogi state on Saturday

Three policemen have been killed in central Nigeria’s Kogi state after gunmen stormed a police station in an attack claimed by Islamic State.

State police spokesperson William Ovye Aya said a fierce gun battle took place after “hoodlums” entered the station in Adavi town on Saturday.

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France says Russian mercenaries staged ‘French atrocity’ in Mali

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Army says it filmed mercenaries burying bodies to falsely accuse France of leaving behind mass graves

Russian mercenaries buried bodies near a Malian military base to falsely accuse France’s departing forces of leaving behind mass graves, the French military has claimed.

The French army said it used a drone to film what appeared to be white soldiers covering bodies with sand near the Gossi base in northern Mali.

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Tanzania’s Maasai appeal to west to stop eviction for conservation plans

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Thousands of Indigenous people sign letter to UK, US and EU protesting at appropriation of land for tourist safaris and hunting

Thousands of Maasai pastoralists in northern Tanzania have written to the UK and US governments and the EU appealing for help to stop plans to evict them from their ancestral land.

More than 150,000 Maasai people face eviction by the Tanzanian government due to moves by the UN cultural agency Unesco and a safari company to use the land for conservation and commercial hunting.

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More than 160 passengers still missing from train attacked in Nigeria

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Boko Haram and local bandits suspected to have bombed rail tracks in Kaduna as dozens remain unaccounted for

More than 160 passengers who were on a train that was attacked in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna last month remain missing or unaccounted for, as details of possible collaboration between Boko Haram jihadists and local bandits have emerged.

Ten people were killed, two in the weeks since the attack on 28 March, when gunmen bombed the rail tracks, derailing the train before gunning down passengers and train staff, and abducting scores of people.

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‘Lawless logging’ in DRC raises concerns over $500m forests deal signed by Boris Johnson

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Critics say cash from UK, Norway, France and Germany could be wasted as damning report reveals illegalities, corruption and environmental crimes

Environmental groups have raised concerns about a $500m (£380m) forest protection deal signed by Boris Johnson at Cop26, after a damning report into the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s “lawless” logging sector.

Johnson signed the letter of intent on behalf of the Central African Forest Initiative (Cafi) for a 10-year agreement which includes objectives to protect high-value forests and peatlands. Of the £200m committed to protecting the Congo basin by the UK at Cop26, £32m was given to Cafi from the aid budget.

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Priti Patel could face Home Office mutiny over Rwanda asylum plan

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Unions say civil servants could stage mass walkouts after home secretary overruled their concerns

Priti Patel could face a Home Office mutiny over plans to process migrants 5,000 miles away in Rwanda after overruling officials to push through the scheme.

The home secretary issued a rare ministerial direction to overrule concerns of civil servants about whether the scheme would deliver value for money.

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Boat capsizes off Libya, leaving 35 people dead or presumed dead

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Wooden vessel launched from Sabratha, a major departure point for Europe, says UN migration agency

A boat carrying 35 people has capsized off the Libyan coast, , the UN migration agency has said.

The incident took place on Friday off the western Libyan city of Sabratha, a major launching point for the mainly African people making the dangerous voyage across the Mediterranean, said the International Organization for Migration.

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South Africa’s flood-ravaged east hit by more heavy rain

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Emergency services on high alert in KwaZulu-Natal as search for victims continues, with almost 400 dead

South Africa’s flood-ravaged east has been hit by another downpour of rain, after the catastrophic storm killed nearly 400 people and left tens of thousands homeless.

Flood waters from the deadliest storm to hit the country in living memory engulfed parts of the coastal city of Durban earlier this week – tearing apart roads, sweeping away homes and those trapped inside them, and sinking heavy cargo containers.

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South Africa flooding death toll nears 400 as rescuers search for missing

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More weather warnings ahead as search continues for those hit by deadly storms in KwaZulu-Natal province

South African police, army and volunteer rescuers have widened the search for dozens still missing five days after the deadliest storm to strike the city of Durban in living memory as the death toll rose to nearly 400.

The floods, which affected nearly 41,000 people, left a trail of destruction and killed at least 395 people, said Sipho Hlomuka, the regional head of the disaster management ministry.

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‘I will die here, I can’t go back to Africa’: migrants respond to Rwanda removal

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Asylum seekers say there is no freedom in Rwanda and fear for their lives if sent to Africa

Small boat arrivals on the Kent coast have expressed fears that they will be removed from the UK and transferred to Rwanda, after hearing the government’s announcement that asylum claims will be processed offshore.

“If they send me to Rwanda, I will not go. I will die here, I will take my life,” Jemal, a new arrival from Eritrea, said. “Do you know how many thousands of miles I travelled to be here? How long I was in [the] desert …? To reach this point, to be here, we all had to make so many sacrifices. A lot of [people] lost their lives on the sea. I left my country now – I cannot go back to Africa.”

In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 and the domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 1-800-273-8255 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org.

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