Soyinka, 91, who recently compared US president to Idi Amin, says ‘I have no visa – I am banned’
The Trump administration has revoked the visa for Wole Soyinka, the acclaimed Nigerian Nobel prize-winning writer who has been critical of Trump since his first presidency, Soyinka revealed on Tuesday.
“I want to assure the consulate … that I’m very content with the revocation of my visa,” Soyinka, who won the 1986 Nobel prize for literature, told a news conference.
Continue reading...Exclusive: two dossiers of material seen by the security council raise questions over export of British arms to the UAE, which has been accused of supplying weapons to paramilitary RSF group
British military equipment has been found on battlefields in Sudan, used by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group accused of genocide, according to documents seen by the UN security council.
UK-manufactured small-arms target systems and British-made engines for armoured personnel carriers have been recovered from combat sites in a conflict that has now caused the world’s biggest humanitarian catastrophe.
Continue reading...Low turnout said to have made for most peaceful election in years, as 83-year-old accused of clampdown on dissent wins 89.77% of vote
Alassane Ouattara has been declared the winner of the presidential election in Ivory Coast by a landslide.
According to provisional results announced by the Independent Electoral Commission (CIE) on Monday evening, the 83-year-old won a fourth term as head of the west African country with 89.77% or 3.75m votes.
Continue reading...Paul Biya, 92, said to have won 53.66% of vote after volatile two weeks since election when opponent claimed victory
Paul Biya, the world’s oldest serving head of state, has been declared the winner of Cameroon’s election, granting him an eighth term that could keep him in office until he is nearly 100.
The country’s constitutional council said Biya had won 53.66% of the vote, while his former ally turned challenger, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, got 35.19%.
Continue reading...Doubts over whether Ankara will be part of 5,000-strong force to be deployed to prevent postwar power vacuum
Turkey will probably be excluded from the 5,000-strong stabilisation force that is to be set up inside Gaza after Israel made clear it did not want Turkish troops taking part.
Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said it was a requirement that Israel is comfortable with the nationality of the multinational force, set up to prevent a security vacuum when the massive task of reconstruction in Gaza starts. Turkey has said it is willing to offer troops, but Israel has let it be known that it disapproves of Turkish troops taking part in the force.
Continue reading...Exclusive: In the year they announced record profits, Britain’s arms maker has revoked licence to fly for planes taking supplies of food to starving people in South Sudan, Somalia and DRC
Britain’s biggest weapons manufacturer, BAE Systems, has quietly scrapped support for a fleet of aircraft providing “life-saving” humanitarian aid to some of the world’s poorest countries.
The decision further reduces the distribution of vital aid to countries facing serious humanitarian crises, including South Sudan, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Continue reading...Roberto Mosquera del Peral was sent to African country as part of Trump administration’s immigration crackdown
A Cuban man deported by the Trump administration to the southern African country of Eswatini has started a hunger strike against his detention there, his lawyer said on Wednesday.
Roberto Mosquera del Peral was among five third-country nationals deported from the US to Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, in July.
Continue reading...Expected reduction in contributions by wealthy countries likely to cost millions of lives and billions in lost growth
Slashed contributions from wealthy countries to an anti-malaria fund could allow a resurgence of the disease, costing millions of lives and billions of pounds by the end of the decade, according to a new analysis.
The fight against malaria faces new threats, including extreme weather and humanitarian crises increasing the number of people exposed, and growing biological resistance to insecticides and drugs, the report warns.
Continue reading...Thousands gather in Nairobi to pay respects to veteran opposition leader, prompting chaotic scenes at stadium
Four people have been killed in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, after security forces fired shots and teargas to disperse huge crowds at a stadium where the body of the opposition leader Raila Odinga was lying in state.
Odinga, a major figure in Kenyan politics for decades who was once a political prisoner and ran unsuccessfully for president five times, died on Wednesday aged 80 in India, where he had been receiving medical treatment.
Continue reading...Esther Njoki says family has seen ‘big change’ under Labour, after long fight for justice over aunt’s 2012 death in Kenya
The niece of Agnes Wanjiru, who was killed in Kenya, said she hopes the former British soldier charged with her aunt’s murder will be extradited while the Labour government is still in power.
On her first trip outside Kenya, Esther Njoki travelled to London, where she was invited to parliament to meet the defence secretary, John Healey, whom she urged not to delay the potentially years-long extradition process.
Continue reading...Odinga, who ran five times for presidency and had profound influence on Kenyan politics, has died in India
The veteran Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga, who ran five times for the presidency and had a profound influence on the country’s politics, has died aged 80 in India.
Odinga was in the southern city of Kochi for treatment. The Press Trust of India news agency reported that he had a cardiac arrest during a morning walk.
Continue reading...The city – the Sudanese army’s last stronghold in the west of the country – has withstood more than 500 days of attacks by paramilitary RSF
The besieged Sudanese city of El Fasher has been declared “uninhabitable” with new data indicating most homes are destroyed and critical levels of malnourishment among people trapped there.
The stark assessment comes as the city endures constant artillery and drone attacks, shoehorning its 250,000 starving people into a shrinking urban enclave.
Continue reading...Announcement comes after country’s parliament impeaches president after weeks of anti-government protests
An elite military unit said it had taken power in Madagascar on Tuesday, after the country’s parliament impeached president Andry Rajoelina after weeks of anti-government protests.
Rajoelina, who said on Monday in a Facebook Live video that he had gone into hiding after attempts to kill him, had refused demands to step down, but the demonstrators won the backing of the influential Capsat unit at the weekend.
Continue reading...Issa Tchiroma Bakary calls on 92-year-old president to accept end of reign, although results have yet to be released
The Cameroonian opposition leader Issa Tchiroma Bakary has declared himself the winner of the 12 October presidential election and called on the incumbent, Paul Biya, to accept the end of his 43-year rule.
“Our victory is clear, it must be respected,” Tchiroma said in a video statement on Facebook with the national flag in the background, before directly addressing 92-year-old Biya: “We call on the regime in power to show greatness and to honour the truth of the ballot box with a long-awaited gesture: that phone call of congratulations, which will demonstrate the political maturity of our nation and the future strength of our democracy.”
Continue reading...Observers and opposition says prosecution of Riek Machar for crimes in relation to attack by rebel militia puts peace deal at risk
South Sudan’s opposition and observers have warned that the prosecution of the country’s suspended vice-president, Riek Machar, risks jeopardising a peace agreement that ended a devastating civil war and plunging the country into full-scale conflict once again.
On 11 September, Machar was charged with murder, treason, crimes against humanity and other serious crimes in connection with a deadly attack by the White Army rebel group on a government army garrison in Nasir county in the country’s north-east. President Salva Kiir then suspended him from his post.
Continue reading...Mosengo-Omba said to run CAF as a ‘proprietorship’
Employee: ‘Anyone who dares speak up is terminated’
The Confederation of African Football’s general secretary, Véron Mosengo-Omba, has been accused of running the organisation as his “proprietorship” and creating a toxic culture of fear where employees are fired for speaking out against him.
Several former and current members of staff have told the Guardian there is an atmosphere of intimidation and paranoia at the Caf headquarters in Cairo, where Mosengo-Omba is accused of sidelining colleagues and silencing whistleblowers.
Continue reading...Andry Rajoelina does not announce resignation in speech broadcast on social media after military rebellion
Madagascar’s president, Andry Rajoelina, said he had fled the country in fear for his life after a military rebellion but did not announce his resignation in a speech broadcast on social media late on Monday from an undisclosed location.
The 51-year-old has faced weeks of gen Z-led anti-government protests, which reached a pivotal point on Saturday when an elite military unit joined the protests and called for the president and other ministers to step down. That prompted Rajoelina to say that an illegal attempt to seize power was under way in the Indian Ocean island and to leave the country.
Continue reading...Paul Biya, in power since 1982, has brushed off calls to retire but is rarely seen in public
Cameroon goes to the polls on Sunday for a presidential election with Paul Biya, already the world’s oldest head of state at the age of 92, the favourite to win an eighth term in power in the central African country.
A fractured opposition of 11 candidates is standing against Biya, who, despite his advanced age and declining health, has dismissed calls for him to retire.
Continue reading...Demonstrators march alongside regiment, who earlier in the day said they would not fire on the crowds
Madagascar’s prime minister called for calm after an elite group of soldiers joined thousands of protesters against the country’s president on the streets of the capital on Saturday afternoon.
Protesters marched alongside soldiers from the Capsat unit, who drove armoured vehicles, some waving Madagascar flags, from their base in Soanierana in the south of Antananarivo.
Continue reading...Drone and artillery strikes by RSF paramilitary group hit Dar al-Arqam shelter in western city, says resistance committee
Militia drone and artillery strikes have killed at least 60 people at a displacement shelter in the besieged city of El Fasher in western Sudan, a local activist group has said.
The Resistance Committee for El Fasher said the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group hit the Dar al-Arqam displacement centre, which is in the grounds of a university.
Continue reading...