Tributes paid to retired barrister Peter Clement, 57, who was last seen walking alone on trail on 15 May
A retired British barrister is feared to have died in Seychelles after going missing on a jungle hike.
Peter Clement, 57, who was reportedly on holiday to celebrate his retirement, was last seen walking alone on the 12-mile Grande Barbe trail on Silhouette Island on 15 May.
Continue reading...Congolese independence hero’s gold-capped tooth returned as ex-colonial power faces its bloody past
Belgian authorities have returned a tooth belonging to the murdered Congolese independence hero Patrice Lumumba, as the former colonial power continues to confront its bloody past and look toward reconciliation.
The restitution of the relic took place after Belgium’s King Philippe expressed his “deepest regrets” this month for his country’s abuses in its African former colony, Congo, 75 times the size of Belgium.
Continue reading...Items include armour, banners, and two skulls taken from Omdurman battlefield
Museum officials in Sudan are hoping for the return of priceless artefacts and body parts taken by British soldiers, colonial administrators and travellers, saying they could help bring peace to the unstable east African country.
The items include valuable armour, weapons and clothing, and the banners of fighters who resisted the British force that invaded and colonised Sudan 124 years ago.
Continue reading...People ‘killed like chickens’ as ethnic tensions continue in Africa’s second most populous country
Witnesses in Ethiopia said on Sunday that more than 200 ethnic Amhara have been killed in an attack in the country’s Oromia region and are blaming a rebel group, which denies it.
It is one of the deadliest such attacks in recent memory as ethnic tensions continue in Africa’s second most populous country.
Continue reading...Relic of the murdered Republic of Congo leader will be returned to his family as Brussels confronts its bloody past in Africa
The Belgian government will return a tooth of Patrice Lumumba to his family this week, hoping to draw a line under one of the most brutal and shameful episodes in the country’s bloody exploitation of central Africa.
The relic is all that remains of Lumumba, the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, under its earlier name Republic of Congo, and an icon of the struggle against colonialism in Africa, who was murdered by separatists and Belgian mercenaries in 1961. His killers dissolved his remains in acid, though some kept teeth as macabre mementoes.
Continue reading...Labour peer who is first black member of Order of the Garter says scheme threatens to undermine UK’s global standing
Sending asylum seekers to Rwanda is an “absolutely shameful” policy that threatens to undermine Britain’s potential to lead in a changing world, the Labour peer Valerie Amos has said.
Lady Amos, who this week became the first black member of the Order of the Garter, said the scheme “sends a message” to other countries about “how seriously we take our responsibilities” to the UN’s security council and charter on refugees.
Continue reading...President is accused of trying to cover up theft of millions of US dollars hidden at his game farm
The South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, is facing the most serious personal challenge of his four years in power after claims he tried to cover up the theft of millions of US dollars hidden at his game farm.
The scandal – labelled Farmgate by South African media – could potentially derail Ramaphosa’s efforts to win a second term in power and destabilise Africa’s most developed economy.
Continue reading...Unprecedented food shortages could spark riots in dozens of countries as Black Sea blockade adds to pressures, says WFP chief
Dozens of countries risk protests, riots and political violence this year as food prices surge around the world, the head of the food-aid branch of the United Nations has warned.
Speaking in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, on Thursday, David Beasley, director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), said the world faced “frightening” shortages that could destabilise countries that depend on wheat exports from Ukraine and Russia.
Continue reading...Kigali government seeks to shift narrative with managed tours of processing facilities and accommodation for deportees
Rwanda has been caught in the eye of a British political storm this week, and its officials are not happy with how the country has been portrayed.
It was preparing to welcome asylum seekers on Tuesday until a dramatic 11th-hour ruling by the European court of human rights.
Continue reading...Reuben Kigame’s campaign team claims the Electoral Commission discriminated against him because he is blind
A gospel singer who wants to be Kenya’s first disabled presidential candidate has brought a case in the country’s courts after being barred from the electoral race.
Reuben Kigame, who is blind, filed against Kenya’s Electoral Commission (IEBC) last Tuesday, claiming he had been blocked from entering the 9 August election.
Continue reading...Decision by European court of human rights strengthens case for overhaul of UK laws, says deputy PM
A last-minute court ruling that prevented the first asylum seekers being forcibly removed to Rwanda was wrong and has strengthened the case for overhauling Britain’s human rights laws, Dominic Raab has said.
The deputy prime minister urged the European court of human rights (ECHR) to “respect the limits of its mandate”, though rejected calls from some Conservative MPs to cut ties with the Strasbourg-based body.
Continue reading...Asylum seekers at Gashora transit centre say they fear reaching UK and ending up where they started after torturous journey
Many have attempted perilous crossings across the Mediterranean to reach the UK in the past. But asylum seekers at Rwanda’s Gashora transit centre say they are now too scared to try again for fear of ending up back where they started.
Zemen Fesaha, 26, from Eritrea, arrived at the sprawling complex of accommodation and leisure facilities in July. The refugee camp, an hour and a half’s drive from Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, houses 249 men, 125 women, and 83 children, who were evacuated from squalid detention centres in Libya.
Continue reading...Insect’s journey probably began in west Africa on vessel that sailed from La Rochelle in 1743 to Guinea
An 18th-century cockroach named Peri, discovered in the ledger of a French slave-trading vessel, has become a surprise addition to the National Archives after the book was opened for the first time in more than two centuries.
The insect’s journey began onboard the slave-trading vessel that sailed from La Rochelle in 1743 for the Guinea coast. The crew later boarded a different vessel in modern-day Haiti bound for France, taking the ledger with them. But that ship was seized by British privateers during the war of the Austrian succession and sent into Plymouth.
Continue reading...Thérèse Coffey says she is sure government will go back to European court of human rights over decision
The UK is likely to challenge the European court of human rights ruling that stopped the deportation to Rwanda of people seeking asylum and is already preparing for the next flight, a cabinet minister has said.
Thérèse Coffey, the work and pensions secretary, played down the idea that the UK could withdraw from the European convention on human rights in response to the court’s decision, which halted the flight on Tuesday night.
Continue reading...First flight to Rwanda grounded after lawyers make successful emergency application
Boris Johnson’s plan to send an inaugural flight of asylum seekers to Rwanda has been abandoned after a dramatic 11th-hour ruling by the European court of human rights.
Up to seven people who had come to the UK seeking refuge had been expected to be removed to the east African country an hour and a half before the flight was due to take off.
Continue reading...‘Mentally exhausted’ expected deportees launched last-minute legal bids to avoid removal from UK
An Albanian asylum seeker and suspected victim of trafficking has told the Guardian he is in a “very bad mental state” as he expects to board a deportation flight to Rwanda, a country of which he knows “nothing”.
The 26-year-old Albanian man is one of seven asylum seekers who have launched last-minute legal challenges to avoid being forcibly flown to the east African country. Others include three Iranians, one Iraqi and one Vietnamese asylum seeker. All arrived in the UK on small boats in the middle of May.
Continue reading...Media freedom groups say New York Times reporter’s verdict reflects press clampdown as election looms
Media freedom campaigners have criticised the conviction of a journalist in Zimbabwe for allegedly breaking immigration laws, describing the decision as “a monumental travesty of justice” that raises concerns for the press in the lead-up to elections next year.
Jeffrey Moyo, a freelance correspondent for the New York Times, was given a suspended prison sentence of five years and fined $615 by a court in Bulawayo after being found guilty on Tuesday of helping to obtain press accreditation needed by two reporters from his news organisation to enter Zimbabwe.
Continue reading...Dozens wounded in clashes with police over eviction from ancestral lands to make way for hunting and safaris
Ten Maasai leaders were detained and more than 30 people wounded during violent clashes with police in northern Tanzania on Friday, as they protested against eviction from their land to make way for a luxury game reserve.
One police officer was reportedly killed in the clashes and hundreds of people are in hiding after the protests in Loliondo, which borders Serengeti national park.
Continue reading...Drastic cuts to World Food Programme assistance will leave people ‘looking death in the face’ unless global donors offer support
The World Food Programme has said it is suspending food aid to 1.7 million people in South Sudan, as the war in Ukraine sucks funding from the world’s crisis-plagued youngest country and causes the price of staples to soar.
The UN’s emergency food assistance agency said it had planned to deliver aid to more than 6 million acutely food-insecure people in South Sudan this year, as it did in 2021, albeit with smaller rations.
Continue reading...Call comes after former UN climate envoy urged African countries to exploit their natural gas reserves
Africa must embrace renewable energy, and forgo exploration of its potentially lucrative gas deposits to stave off climate disaster and bring access to clean energy to the hundreds of millions who lack it, leading experts on the continent have said.
Their call came as the UN secretary general, António Guterres, warned that exploring for gas and oil anywhere in the world would be “delusional”.
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