Category Archives: Africa

Inquest into notorious apartheid-era killings opens in South Africa

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‘We want to correct the historic record’ – families of the Cradock Four, beaten and killed in 1985, seek justice 40 years on

An inquest has opened into one of the most notorious killings of South Africa’s apartheid era, with a former general denying he ordered the deaths of four men who became known as the Cradock Four.

Fort Calata, Matthew Goniwe, Sicelo Mhlauli and Sparrow Mkonto were stopped at a roadblock on 27 June 1985 by security officers and beaten, strangled with telephone wire, stabbed and shot to death.

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UK should impose sanctions on Egypt over jailed activist, says Helena Kennedy

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Top human rights lawyer calls for UK to take case of Alaa Abd el-Fattah to international court of justice

The UK government should impose sanctions on key figures in the Egyptian government in response to its refusal to release the British-Egyptian human rights activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah, Labour’s most prominent human rights lawyer has proposed.

Writing in the Guardian, Helena Kennedy called for the UK to take the case to the international court of justice, as France has recently done in the case of a national held by Iran.

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Weather tracker: Nigeria hit by deadly flooding described as ‘worst in 60 years’

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At least 150 people killed, thousands displaced and buildings destroyed after heavy rains in north of country

Significant flooding affected Nigeria last week, with more than 150 deaths reported so far. Heavy rain struck the north of the country on Wednesday night and continued into Thursday, leading to flooding along the Niger River, displacing thousands and destroying hundreds of homes. The district head said it was the region’s worst flood in 60 years.

Heavy rain is not unusual at this time of year in Nigeria. The country has a tropical climate and is influenced by the west African monsoon, with the wet season running from April until October. This type of seasonality is linked to land-sea temperature differences, alongside the shifting intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ), a band of low pressure roughly around the equator that shifts north and south with the angle of the sun.

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Women and girls ‘not safe anywhere’ as Darfur suffers surge in sexual violence

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Médecins Sans Frontières report sparks calls for Sudan’s warring parties to be held to account for rapes and attacks

As Sudan’s Darfur region has been overrun by militias, women are facing the constant threat of sexual violence, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has reported.

The medical charity said in the South Darfur region alone its workers treated 659 sexual violence survivors between January and March this year, more than two-thirds of whom had been raped.

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Mother of jailed British-Egyptian activist hospitalised after 242 days on hunger strike

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Laila Soueif continues protest against detention of Alaa Abd el-Fattah in Cairo

The mother of the imprisoned British-Egyptian human rights activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah has been admitted to hospital after spending more than 240 days on hunger strike.

Laila Soueif’s family said she had been admitted to St Thomas’ hospital in London on Thursday night with dangerously low blood sugar levels, but continues to refuse medical intervention that would provide her with calories.

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Sidi Ould Tah named African Development Bank president

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Mauritanian economist who led Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa will succeed Akinwunmi Adesina

The African Development Bank has chosen the Mauritanian economist Sidi Ould Tah as its president-elect after three rounds of voting on Thursday afternoon.

The election took place in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, at the end of the annual meeting of the continent’s biggest multilateral lender.

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Former ambassador calls on UK to advise citizens against travel to Egypt

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John Casson says Cairo ‘fobbing us off’ by refusing to release British-Egyptian national Alaa Abd el-Fattah

The former British ambassador to Egypt, John Casson, has urged the UK to advise its citizens against travelling to Egypt, in response to Cairo’s refusal to release dual British Egyptian national Alaa Abd el-Fattah.

A UN panel found on Wednesday that Fattah had been held arbitrarily in jail since 2019, but Egypt was refusing to give the UK consular access – let alone release him. His mother has been refusing food in protest at his detention.

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Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, giant of African literature, dies aged 87

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Kenyan writer’s death announced by his daughter, who wrote: ‘He lived a full life, fought a good fight’

The Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, who was censored, imprisoned and forced into exile by the dictator Daniel arap Moi, a perennial contender for the Nobel prize for literature and one of few writers working in an indigenous African language, has died aged 87.

“It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of our dad, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, this Wednesday morning,” wrote his daughter Wanjiku wa Ngũgĩ on Facebook. “He lived a full life, fought a good fight.”

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Namibia pushes for German reparations on first genocide remembrance day

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Event commemorates estimated 75,000 Herero and Nama people killed under German colonial rule

Namibia has observed its first genocide remembrance day, honouring the estimated 75,000 victims who were massacred by soldiers or forced into concentration camps during German colonial rule.

Between 1904 and 1908, an estimated 65,000 Herero people and 10,000 Nama people were killed when the groups rejected colonial rule. It amounted to 80% and 50% of their respective populations at the time.

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Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina, first Arab and African director to win Cannes Palme d’Or, dies aged 95

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Chronicle of the Years of Fire took the prize in 1975 for its portrayal of the Algerian war of independence, drawing on his own traumatic history

Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina, the first Arab and African director to win the coveted Palme d’Or at the Cannes film festival, has died aged 91, his family said Friday.

The film-maker was awarded the prize in 1975 for Chronicle of the Years of Fire, a historical drama about the Algerian war of independence.

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Presley Chweneyagae, star of Oscar-winning drama Tsotsi, dies aged 40

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South African actor gained international recognition for his role in the drama which won best foreign language film

Presley Chweneyagae, the South African actor who gained international recognition for his leading role in the 2005 film Tsotsi, which won South Africa’s first ever Oscar for best foreign language film, has died. He was 40 years old.

His talent agency MLA on Tuesday confirmed Chweneyagae’s death and said South Africa had lost one of its “most gifted and beloved actors”.

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Forty-two people killed in central Nigeria in attacks blamed on herders

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Attacks in state of Benue latest wave of violence amid conflict between Fulani herders and Indigenous farmers

Forty-two people have been killed in four communities in central Nigeria in attacks blamed on itinerant herders, in the latest wave of violence that continues to upend life in the rural region.

Reuters reports quote a local official, Victor Omnin, the chair of the Gwer West local government area in Benue state, as saying 10 people were killed in a Saturday attack on the villages of Tyolaha and Tse-Ubiam. Thirty-two others were killed the following day in a separate attack in the nearby Ahume and Aondona villages.

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Uganda accused of ‘state bigotry’ and attacks on LGBTQ+ people

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Report from Human Rights Watch criticises Museveni regime for arbitrary arrests and detentions, violence and extortion since draconian new law enacted

The Ugandan authorities have “unleashed abuse”, perpetrating widespread discrimination and violence against LGBTQ+ people in the two years since the world’s harshest anti-gay laws were enacted, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW).

The government’s policies in Uganda had encouraged attacks and harassment against people and organisations seen as being supportive of gay rights, said researchers from the rights group.

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Poorest 750 nations face ‘tidal wave’ of debt repayments to China in 2025, study warns

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Vulnerable countries to pay record $22bn this year, mostly relating to loans issued under Xi Jinping’s belt and road initiative

The most vulnerable nations on Earth are facing a “tidal wave” of debt repayments as a Chinese lending boom starts to be called in, a new report has warned.

The analysis, published on Tuesday by Australian foreign policy thinktank the Lowy Institute, said that in 2025 the poorest 75 countries were on the hook for record high debt repayments US$22bn to China. The 75 nations’ debt formed the bulk of the total $35bn calculated by Lowy for 2025.

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Nearly extinct ‘forgotten antelope’ photographed for first time in DRC

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Upemba lechwe considered one of world’s rarest large mammals with fewer than 100 thought to remain

A photograph of Africa’s “forgotten antelope” has been published for the first time as the elusive creature dives towards extinction.

Fewer than 100 Upemba lechwe are thought to remain, with an aerial survey in the Kamalondo depression of the southern Democratic Republic of the Congo having recorded 10 individuals.

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Malawi battles mpox as cases of the infectious disease surge in Africa

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Medicine shortages plus limited testing and hospital capacity exacerbated by withdrawal of USAID as outbreak gathers pace across countries in the region

Malawi’s ministry of health has announced three new cases of mpox in the capital, Lilongwe, bringing the number of confirmed cases to 11 since the country’s first was reported in April.

Malawi is one of 16 countries in Africa reporting mpox outbreaks as health officials battle with vaccine shortages as well as limited testing and hospital capacity.

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Court halts Trump administration’s effort to send eight men to South Sudan

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The group is in temporary custody of homeland security in Djibouti following challenges in court

Eight men the Trump administration attempted to send to South Sudan are in temporary custody in Djibouti after a federal court ruling halted their removal, officials confirmed on Thursday.

The Trump administration had attempted to send the men, who it said had been convicted of criminal offenses, to their home countries: officials said two each were from Myanmar and Cuba and the others were from Vietnam, Laos, Mexico and South Sudan.

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Judge rules White House violated order by deporting migrants to South Sudan

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Eight people apparently deported as their lawyers say they are at ‘risk of harm’ and that there is ‘no clarity’

A federal judge has ruled the US government’s attempt to deport migrants to South Sudan “unquestionably” violated an earlier court order.

Brian E Murphy, the US district judge in Massachusetts, made the remark at an emergency hearing he had ordered in Boston following the Trump administration’s apparent removal of eight people to South Sudan, despite most of them being from other countries.

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US deportations cast spotlight on South Sudan’s deepening political crisis

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World’s youngest country is facing renewed outbreak of tensions that have plagued it for years

An attempt by the US to deport South Asian migrants to South Sudan has cast a spotlight on the world’s youngest country, which is experiencing a renewed outbreak of the political tensions that have plagued it over the years.

On Wednesday, a US federal judge said the deportation of migrants from the US to South Sudan “unquestionably” violated a court order requiring that any people being deported to a third country should receive due process.

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South Africa’s Ramaphosa expected to take golf stars to Trump meeting

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Ernie Els and Retief Goosen reportedly part of delegation as president seeks to reset ties after white ‘genocide’ claims

The South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, is expected to take the golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen with him to meet Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Wednesday, as the government attempts to reset relations with the US amid Trump’s accusations that it is fomenting a white “genocide”.

Ramaphosa’s appeal to Trump’s love of golf, with the potential inclusion of Els and Goosen reported by South African local media, is part of his efforts to avoid a public dressing down of the kind Trump gave to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in February.

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