Category Archives: Africa

‘It’s not easy’: seven working parents around the world – photo essay

Posted on by

Photographers Linda Bournane Engelberth and Valentina Sinis document the lives of working parents from Botswana to the UK for Unicef

If investing in family-friendly policies is good for business, then many companies are missing a trick. Giving parents and families adequate time, resources and services to care for children, while staying in their jobs and improving their skills and productivity, pays off according to employers. But for many, in all parts of the world, paid parental leave and childcare are not a reality. And that can compromise the first critical years of life – a time when the combination of the right nourishment, environment and love can strengthen a developing brain and give a baby the best start.

Evidence suggests family-friendly policies pay off in healthier, better-educated children and greater gender equality, and are linked to better productivity and the ability to attract and retain workers. Momentum for change is growing with an increasing number of businesses beginning to see the value.

Continue reading...

Protests in Tunisia: share your experiences

Posted on by

We’d like to hear from those living and working in Tunisia about their views and experiences of the protests

A week of protests has taken place in Tunis after the death of a man in police custody and footage of another man being beaten and stripped by officers went viral. We’d like to speak to those caught up in the events about their experiences.

What are your views about the protests? Why are you taking part?

Continue reading...

Vaccines and oxygen run out as third wave of Covid hits Uganda

Posted on by

Vaccine thefts reported and hospitals unable to admit patients as cases leap 2,800% in a month

Uganda has all but run out of Covid-19 vaccines and oxygen as the country grapples with another wave of the pandemic.

Both private and public medical facilities in the capital, Kampala and in towns across the country – including regional hubs in Entebbe, Jinja, Soroti, Gulu and Masaka – have reported running out or having acute shortages of AstraZeneca vaccines and oxygen. Hospitals report they are no longer able to admit patients to intensive care.

Continue reading...

Delta variant of Covid spreading rapidly and detected in 74 countries

Posted on by

Concerns over impact on poorer countries, while richer governments try different containment measures

The Delta variant of Covid-19, first identified in India, has been detected in 74 countries and continues to spread rapidly amid fears that it is poised to become the dominant strain worldwide.

With outbreaks of the main Delta strain and several of its sub-lineages confirmed in China, the US, Africa, Scandinavia and the Pacific, concern increasingly is focusing on how it appears to be more transmissible as well as causing more serious illness.

Continue reading...

Giulio Regeni’s last messages before his death in Egypt counter spy claims

Posted on by

Facebook messages from the Italian student killed in Cairo in 2016 show his concerns about studying in the country

The Facebook messages written by the Cambridge student Giulio Regeni in the weeks leading up to his murder give the lie to any notion he was a spy or political agitator.

Even before he left England, Regeni was concerned about the risks he might face doing his thesis on trade unions in Egypt, a sensitive subject in the country.

Continue reading...

Drop Covid vaccine patent rules to save lives in poorest countries, Britain and Germany told

Posted on by

G7 summit hears move would slash the cost of jabs and accelerate rollout of programmes across the developing world

Britain and Germany were under intense pressure on Saturday to drop their resistance to proposals that would slash the cost of Covid-19 vaccines, following accusations that an agreement at the G7 summit to fund a billon doses will give the world’s poorest countries “crumbs from the table”.

Aid agencies said rules that protect drug patents from being illegally copied must be waived during the pandemic to accelerate the rollout of vaccines and save lives across the developing world.

Continue reading...

French soldiers kill Mali jihadist blamed for RFI journalists’ murder

Posted on by

Bayes Ag Bakabo was prime suspect in 2013 kidnapping and shooting of Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon

French soldiers have killed a Malian jihadist suspected of being responsible for the kidnapping and death of two French journalists in 2013.

Florence Parly, the defence minister in Paris, said French forces in the Sahel region killed “four terrorists” during an operation in northern Mali on 5 June, including Bayes Ag Bakabo, the prime suspect in the deaths of Radio France International (RFI) reporters Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon.

Continue reading...

From bamboo to barbecues: the cargo caught up in Ever Given legal battle

Posted on by

Ship cannot sail out of Egyptian waters as authorities detain crew and cargo until owners pay for blockages

Lemons, bamboo shoots and tofu sit in the sweltering heat, alongside goods from Lenovo, Ikea, Dixons Carphone and dozens of other brands – including barbecues, sun loungers, swimwear, lawnmowers and camping equipment – that will arrive at their intended destinations long after summer ends.

Since the successful operation in late March to dislodge the 220,000-ton Ever Given from the Suez canal, where it was stuck for six days, the cargo ship has been grounded again – this time by a fierce legal battle between the ship’s owners, insurance companies, and the Suez Canal Authority (SCA).

Continue reading...

More than 350,000 suffering from famine conditions in Ethiopia’s Tigray, says UN

Posted on by

Aid chief says situation is worst since the 2011 famine in Somalia that led to the deaths of an estimated 250,000 people

More than 350,000 people in Ethiopia’s Tigray region are suffering famine conditions, with millions more at risk, according to an analysis by UN agencies and aid groups that blamed conflict for the worst food crisis in a decade.

“There is famine now in Tigray,” the UN aid chief, Mark Lowcock, said on Thursday after the release of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis.

Continue reading...

‘Father of African cinema’ Ousmane Sembène at work – in pictures

Posted on by

A look back at the career of Senegal-born film director Ousmane Sembène as his 1968 film Mandabi is released in the UK for the first time

•Mandabi is released on 11 June in cinemas, and on 28 June on DVD, Blu-Ray and digital platforms.

•Peter Bradshaw on Mandabi: classic about colonialism resonates today

Continue reading...

Italy investigates UN officer over death of diplomat in DR Congo

Posted on by

Prosecutors accuse suspect of failing to ensure protection of convoy that was attacked in February

Italian prosecutors have placed a UN officer under investigation in relation to the murder of Italy’s ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who was killed in February along with two other people in an attack in the restive east of the central African country.

Magistrates in Rome are investigating the role of a UN World Food Programme (WFP) officer in the DRC, whose name has not been disclosed, who is accused of allegedly omitting to take all the necessary security to ensure against a potential attack.

Continue reading...

Uganda’s ID scheme excludes nearly a third from healthcare, says report

Posted on by

Vital services including grants financed by UK unavailable without identity cards, with women and the elderly worst affected

Up to a third of adults in Uganda have been excluded from vital healthcare and social services because they do not have national ID cards, according to a report.

Women and elderly people have been particularly affected by the introduction of the digital identity cards, which are required to access government and private sector healthcare, to claim social benefits, to vote and to open bank accounts or buy sim cards.

Continue reading...

Barcelona street sellers take on Nike with own-brand trainers

Posted on by

Ethical streetwear co-operative Top Manta says profits will help migrant vendors ‘become legal and work for a decent wage’

After years of selling cheap copies of designer shoes and handbags, Barcelona’s street vendors have set up a co-operative and launched a line of trainers under the brand name Top Manta.

Unlike an earlier attempt to establish a brand in 2017 by sticking a logo on shoes imported from China, the trainers are made in Alicante in Spain and Porto in Portugal.

Continue reading...

Global economy set for fastest recovery for more than 80 years

Posted on by

Slow Covid-19 vaccine progress in low-income countries will widen divisions between rich and poor nations

The global economy is set for the fastest recovery from recession for more than 80 years, but poor nations are at risk of falling further behind wealthy countries amid slow progress with the Covid-19 vaccine, the World Bank has said.

In its half-yearly outlook report, the Washington-based institution said the world economy was forecast to grow at 5.6% this year, in a sharp upgrade from previous estimates it made in January for growth of 4.1%.

Continue reading...

Biden accused of U-turn over Egypt’s human rights abuses

Posted on by

Critics say US president’s realpolitik ignores Sisi regime’s ‘hostage-taking tactics’ against dissidents

“It’s a hostage negotiation and it has been all along,” said Sherif Mansour, describing the arrest of his cousin Reda Abdel-Rahman by Egyptian security forces last August as an attempt to intimidate Mansour into silence.

Abdel-Rahman has been imprisoned without trial for nine months. Mansour, an outspoken human rights advocate in Washington with the Committee to Protect Journalists, has since learned that he and his father are listed on the same charge sheet, all accused of joining a terrorist group and spreading “false news”.

Continue reading...

‘On a rampage’: the African women fighting to end FGM

Posted on by

Female genital mutilation has revived under Covid but activists are pushing hard to save girls at risk

It was when the phone started ringing with calls from worried mothers in Somalia that Ifrah Ahmed knew she was making an impact. The women told her their daughters had been bleeding for hours after undergoing female genital mutilation and asked what to do. Ahmed told them to seek medical attention, and probably saved lives by doing so.

The mothers called because they had heard the story of a 10-year-old girl who had bled to death after being cut in central Galmudug state in July 2018. It was the first confirmed death in years in a country where any complications arising from FGM are generally denied and it gained worldwide attention. The death was first revealed by a local activist who had been trained by Ahmed’s foundation in how to use the media to publicise her work.

Continue reading...

Third wave sweeps across Africa as Covid vaccine imports dry up

Posted on by

WHO says continent urgently needs more jabs as eight countries report rise of 30% in cases in a week

African countries face a last-ditch battle against a third wave of Covid infections, as the supply of vaccines to the continent “grinds to a halt”, top health officials have warned.

“The threat of a third wave in Africa is real and rising. Our priority is clear – it’s crucial that we swiftly get vaccines into the arms of Africans at high risk of falling seriously ill and dying of Covid-19,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization (WHO) regional director for Africa.

Continue reading...

Boko Haram leader killed on direct orders of Islamic State

Posted on by

Isis ordered death of Abubakar Shekau over concerns about indiscriminate targeting of ‘believers’

The death of the leader of the Nigerian militant Islamist group Boko Haram has been confirmed by a rival extremist faction that said it carried out the killing on the direct orders of Islamic State’s leadership thousands of miles away in the Middle East.

Abubakar Shekau, one of the most infamous leaders of Islamic militant groups anywhere in the world, died last month after detonating an explosive device while being pursued by fighters from the Islamic State West African Province (Iswap). The Iswap fighters had stormed the Sambisa forest, a swath of strategically important, dense forest in Nigeria’s north-east, which was Shekau’s base.

Continue reading...