Category Archives: Africa

Gunmen abduct dozens of schoolchildren in central Nigeria

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Teachers and family members also taken in deadly attack on boarding school in Niger state

Dozens of schoolchildren, teachers and their relatives have been abducted by gunmen in central Nigeria after an attack on a boarding school, the latest in a rising wave of mass abductions and attacks that have beset the country.

A spokesperson for the Niger state government said 27 students, three teachers and a dozen family members of school staff, 42 people in total, were taken. Earlier reports had indicated hundreds were missing from the school of about 1,000 students.

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Hotel Rwanda dissident goes on trial accused of terrorism and murder

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Family of Paul Rusesabagina accuse Rwandan authorities of kidnapping him and say he will not get fair trial

The businessman whose role in saving more than 1,000 lives inspired the film Hotel Rwanda has gone on trial in Kigali.

Paul Rusesabagina faces nine charges including terrorism and murder, and if convicted could spend the rest of his life behind bars.

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‘No way they’ll back out’: tensions rise amid Ethiopia opposition hunger strike

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Supporters say the politicians are prepared to die as government stands firm, with human rights lawyers warning consequences ‘could be huge’

For two hours the doctors had waited outside the gates of Kaliti prison in Addis Ababa. Bekele Gerba, a leading Ethiopian opposition figure from the Oromo ethnic group, was very ill and due to be taken to hospital for treatment. The 60-year-old is one of 20 senior political detainees, including the most prominent, Jawar Mohammed, who have been on hunger strike for the past three weeks.

After a flurry of phone calls, the prison authorities informed the waiting medical team that the prisoner, who has hypertension, would not be going to hospital on Friday. “They wouldn’t let us provide the emergency medical care he needs,” said Dr Illili Jamal, who alleged that the order to keep him in his cell came from senior government officials.

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Mozambique expels British journalist covering insurgency

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Tom Bowker tweets that he has been banned from country for 10 years over alleged irregularities

A British journalist covering an insurgency in northern Mozambique has been expelled from the country, he tweeted on Tuesday, days after his accreditation was revoked over alleged irregularities.

Tom Bowker, the co-founder of the anglophone Mozambican news website Zitamar News, had his foreign correspondent card withdrawn on 29 January – a move he has said was politically motivated.

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White Colour Black review – Dudley O’Shaughnessy is one to watch

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The boxer turned actor anchors this tale of a UK photographer who travels to Senegal after the death of his estranged father

British-Nigerian director Joseph Adesunloye’s feature debut – made in 2016 but only now seeing the light of day – is the story of a London photographer travelling to Senegal for his father’s funeral. It’s a drifting movie, not entirely successful but grounded by the undeniable screen presence of boxer turned model turned actor Dudley O’Shaughnessy. (He was in the recent season of Top Boy; in his modelling days he appeared opposite Rihanna in the video for We Found Love.)

Here he plays Leke, a fashion photographer living the dream in Hackney; home is a loft-style flat overlooking the city and Leke is about to open a major show in China. The film begins with a couple of fake-feeling gallery scenes, everyone head-to-toe in black and air-kissing with extravagant mwah-mwahs (this is the art world recognisable from other movies rather than real life). Despite his success, Leke seems detached from his life in London. He is also ignoring telephone messages from Senegal, where his father is seriously ill. When the inevitable call comes – his dad has died – Leke flies to Dakar. A family friend has arranged for a taxi driver to be his guide. “What do you speak? French? Wolof?” Leke shakes his head no. “Mon ami,” says the guy. “Tu est perdu. You are really, really lost.”

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Malawi sacks heads of Covid-19 taskforce amid audit of use of funds

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President Lazarus Chakwera fires several officials and warns ‘no penny meant for saving lives will be stolen, abused or wasted’

Malawi’s president Lazarus Chakwera has fired the heads of his government’s Covid-19 taskforce, in what is being seen as his first decisive move during the pandemic.

The president fired the head of the disaster management department and the taskforce’s co-chair, and suspended further officials, some “for failing to maintain proper records of how such critical funds were used and others for defying my directive to submit reports weekly to my office”. He said the pandemic called for “strong leadership”.

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Sudan declares states of emergency after protests over soaring food prices

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As famine warnings are triggered and food is stolen from markets, the government blames supporters of ousted president al-Bashir

Seven regions of Sudan have declared states of emergency following violent protests against food price rises. Curfews have been imposed and schools have been forced to close in 10 cities across Darfur, North Kordofan, West Kordofan and Sennar. Buildings were looted and burned, and food was stolen from markets and shops. The regions are among the poorest in Sudan.

The joint military-civilian government believes supporters of the former president, Omar al-Bashir, are behind the protests. The government recently ordered the prosecution of members of Bashir’s party.

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‘I’m focused on results’: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on becoming first African female WTO leader – video

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Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said she was focused on delivering results after becoming the first woman and first African to be appointed director general of the World Trade Organization. 'I want to make sure that people remember my continent producing the first leader of the WTO that made a difference,' Okonjo-Iweala said.

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Women need male guardian to travel, says Hamas court in Gaza Strip

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Rollback in women’s rights could spark backlash as Palestinians plan elections later in the year

A Hamas-run Islamic court in the Gaza Strip has ruled that women require the permission of a male guardian to travel, further restricting movement in and out of the territory that has been blockaded by Israel and Egypt since the militant group seized power.

The rollback in women’s rights could spark a backlash in Gaza at a time when the Palestinians plan to hold elections later this year. It could also solidify Hamas’s support among its conservative base at a time when it faces criticism over living conditions in the territory it has ruled since 2007.

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Guinea officials race to contain Ebola outbreak as death toll rises

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At least four people have died in the epidemic, causing heightened alarm across west Africa

Health officials in Guinea are racing to contain a new outbreak of Ebola that has killed at least four people and raised concerns across west Africa, which previously suffered the worst from the virus.

On Monday morning, a fourth victim died in Guinea and four others are being treated in an isolation centre, suffering vomiting, diarrhoea and bleeding. At least seven of the people who contracted the virus attended the funeral of a nurse in Goueke, a town near the Liberian border, on 1 February the government said on Sunday.

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Risk of global food shortages due to Covid has increased, says UN envoy

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Exclusive: Agnes Kalibata says price rises and scarcity mean people in poverty are in more danger than last year

People living in poverty around the world are in danger of food shortages as the coronavirus crisis continues, the UN’s food envoy has warned, with the risk worse this year than in the period shortly after the pandemic began.

Agnes Kalibata, the special envoy to the UN secretary general for the food systems summit 2021, said: “Food systems have contracted, because of Covid-19. And food has become more expensive and, in some places, out of reach for people. Food is looking more challenging this year than last year.”

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‘I’m a fighter’: WTO’s first female, African head ready for battle

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Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, set to be named director general, joins as global trading system facing make-or-break moment

Even for an economist, there are lots of very large numbers in the life of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. As the chair of Gavi, the vaccine alliance, she has overseen the annual immunisation of millions of children. When managing director of the World Bank, she oversaw $81bn (£58bn) worth of operations. In her stints in charge of Nigeria’s finances, she tackled Africa’s most populous country’s $30bn debt. And she has 1.5 million followers on Twitter.

There are lots of smaller numbers too: the 20 non-profit organisations that have appointed Okonjo-Iweala to their advisory boards, the major banks and corporations she has advised, the 10 honorary degrees in addition to her own doctorate, 20 or so awards, dozens of major reports authored, and the books.

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‘I won’t go back’: why Libyans are joining the boats leaving their shores

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Libya, a transit stop for migrants trying to reach Europe, is now facing an exodus of its own people

After witnessing abuse and discrimination, Sherif Targi*, 21, decided to leave Libya for Europe.

“I saw killing and massacres because of the conflicts between Tuaregs and the Tebu [ethnic minorities],” he says.

Targi is a Tuareg from the desert city of Ubari in Libya’s south-west. Under Muammar Gaddafi, Tuareg people were marginalised – not issued government IDs, and restricted from getting work and public services. Things didn’t improve after the dictator was ousted.

In October 2019, Targi left home, travelling more than 600 miles (1,000km) to the coastal city of Zuwara. From there, he and about 200 other people, mainly Syrians, Moroccans and Sudanese, crammed themselves on board an overloaded wooden boat, and set off on a dangerous 18-hour journey.

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Lack of Covid data may leave African countries behind in vaccine rush

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Experts say continent may not be seen as priority because true extent of pandemic is unknown

African countries may suffer in the global rush for vaccines because they are unable to gather statistics that reveal the true extent of the spread of Covid among their populations, epidemiologists and other experts fear.

According to data from Johns Hopkins university, there have been 3.7m confirmed cases in Africa, and the landmark figure of 100,000 confirmed deaths is likely to be reached within days.

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Ebola kills four in Guinea in first resurgence of disease in five years

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Health minister says officials ‘really concerned’ about deaths in south-east region Nzerekore

Four people have died of Ebola in Guinea in the first resurgence of the disease in five years, the health minister said on Saturday.

Remy Lamah told AFP officials were “really concerned” about the deaths, the first since a 2013-16 epidemic – which began in Guinea – left 11,300 dead across the region.

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Guinea enters ‘epidemic situation’ as seven Ebola cases confirmed

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Health minister says officials ‘really concerned’ after three deaths from the infectious disease

Guinea has entered an Ebola “epidemic situation” with seven cases confirmed, including three deaths, a leading health official in the west African nation has said.

“Very early this morning, the Conakry laboratory confirmed the presence of the Ebola virus,” Sakoba Keita said after an emergency meeting in the capital.

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Migrant boat sinks off Lampedusa with one dead and 22 missing

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Tunisian navy had to end rescue effort early due to bad weather but pulled one body from the water

One migrant is dead and 22 others are missing after their boat sank in the Mediterranean sea off the Italian island of Lampedusa, the Tunisian navy has said.

Bad weather interrupted rescue operations around 100 kilometres (62 miles) north-west of Lampedusa, the navy said on Saturday, adding that the body of one migrant had been pulled from the water, while 22 were missing.

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The Good American review: Bob Gersony and a better foreign policy

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Robert D Kaplan’s outstanding book makes a strong case for US engagement based on human rights and helping refugees

What adjective should describe “the American” active in foreign policy? Graham Greene chose “quiet”, as his character harmed a country he did not understand. Eugene Burdick and William Lederer used “ugly”.

Robert D Kaplan, one of America’s most thoughtful chroniclers of foreign affairs, proposes “good” to describe Bob Gersony, who in “a frugal monastic existence that has been both obscure and extraordinary” has devoted his life to using the power and treasure of the US to serve others through humanitarian action.

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Mars, Nestlé and Hershey to face child slavery lawsuit in US

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Chocolate companies are among the defendants named in a lawsuit brought by former child workers in Ivory Coast

Eight children who claim they were used as slave labour on cocoa plantations in Ivory Coast have launched legal action against the world’s biggest chocolate companies. They accuse the corporations of aiding and abetting the illegal enslavement of “thousands” of children on cocoa farms in their supply chains.

Nestlé, Cargill, Barry Callebaut, Mars, Olam, Hershey and Mondelēz have been named as defendants in a lawsuit filed in Washington DC by the human rights firm International Rights Advocates (IRA), on behalf of eight former child slaves who say they were forced to work without pay on cocoa plantations in the west African country.

The plaintiffs, all of whom are originally from Mali and are now young adults, are seeking damages for forced labour and further compensation for unjust enrichment, negligent supervision and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

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Nigerians can bring claims against Shell in UK, supreme court rules

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Ogale and Bille villagers say Shell oil operations have caused severe pollution including to their drinking water

Two Nigerian communities can bring their legal claims for a cleanup and for compensation against the oil company Shell and its Nigerian subsidiary in an English court, supreme court judges have said.

In what lawyers said was a “watershed moment” for the accountability of multinational companies, on Friday the court overturned a decision by the court of appeal, and ruled that the cases against Shell could proceed.

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