Category Archives: Africa

European court under fire for backing Spain’s express deportations

Posted on by

ECHR accused of ‘ignoring reality’ in ruling on men who entered north African enclave

The European court of human rights has been accused of “completely ignoring the reality” along the continent’s borders after it ruled that Spain acted lawfully when it summarily deported two people who tried to scale the border fence separating Morocco from Spanish territory six years ago.

The Strasbourg court announced its decision on Thursday in the case brought by the two men, who are from Mali and Ivory Coast.

Continue reading...

Healing hands: the Italian surgeon treating Libya torture camp survivors

Posted on by

Prof Massimo Del Bene aids African migrants whose captors inflicted horrific injuries to extort ransom payments

The first patient was a young Ghanaian man who had been tortured every day for more than a year in Libya by traffickers trying to extort a ransom for his release, says Prof Massimo Del Bene, head of reconstructive surgery at the San Gerardo hospital in Monza, north of Milan.

Since then, the surgeon renowned for performing the first double hand transplant in Italy, has adapted his expertise to what he calls “torture surgery”, helping African migrants who have survived Libyan detention camps, where traffickers and criminal gangs are documented to have tortured captives to extort ransom money.

Continue reading...

Scientists find evidence of ‘ghost population’ of ancient humans

Posted on by

Traces of unknown ancestor emerged when researchers analysed genomes from west African populations

Scientists have found evidence for a mysterious “ghost population” of ancient humans that lived in Africa about half a million years ago and whose genes live on in people today.

Traces of the unknown ancestor emerged when researchers analysed genomes from west African populations and found that up to a fifth of their DNA appeared to have come from the missing relatives.

Continue reading...

African countries braced for ‘inevitable’ arrival of coronavirus

Posted on by

Health centres step up preparations as World Health Organization raises fears about ability to cope with major outbreak

African health authorities are stepping up preparedness for coronavirus after the head of the World Health Organzation described the outbreak as a “very grave threat for the rest of the world”.

The number of African countries that can test for the virus tripled to 15 this week, with more expected to have testing labs up and running in the coming days. The head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said health centres were on “high alert” for new cases.

Continue reading...

When Lambs Become Lions review – on the trail of Kenya’s elephant killers

Posted on by

This coolly even-handed documentary dips into the lives of an ivory poacher and a stressed-out wildlife ranger trying to obstruct the illegal trade

Jon Kasbe’s documentary When Lambs Become Lions has been much praised on the festival circuit, and it is cleverly and effectively made, seeking to grip you the way a thriller would. Yet I’m not sure that I was completely on board with this film, which appears to have smoothly carpentered its narrative in the edit. Is it almost too good to be true?

The film gives us a coolly even-handed study of some ivory hunters in Kenya – and also the rangers, the hunters of the hunters, who have to roam through the landscape, in their camouflage gear and assault rifles, on the lookout for those who are illegally killing elephants for their tusks.

Continue reading...

UN passes UK-backed resolution calling for a ceasefire in Libya

Posted on by

Proposal for multinational operation to oversee truce comes as fighting grew more complex by the day

The UN security council has passed a resolution mandating a multinational operation to oversee a ceasefire in Libya, despite serious doubts that any of the conflict’s key players will abide by its terms.

The UK-backed resolution, calling for a ceasefire without preconditions and an immediate end to the supply of arms to both sides, was passed by 14 votes to zero, with one abstention from Russia.

Continue reading...

A humanitarian crisis looms in Africa unless we act fast to stop the desert locust

Posted on by

The destructive migratory pest threatens catastrophe as it swarms through countries already plagued by food insecurity

A colleague at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) tells a terrifying story about the desert locust.

In 2005 she visited farmers in Niger as they prepared to harvest their crops. Just hours later, a swarm of locusts swept through the area and destroyed everything. One month later, truckloads of families were forced to leave their homes because they had nothing to eat.

Continue reading...

Portugal freezes bank accounts of Isabel dos Santos after Angolan request

Posted on by

Africa’s richest woman suspect in criminal investigation into misappropriation of funds

Portugal has ordered a freeze on the bank accounts of the billionaire businesswoman Isabel dos Santos, who is currently the subject of a criminal investigation in Angola.

The public prosecutor’s office in Lisbon confirmed reports that dozens of personal and corporate accounts belonging to Dos Santos and her husband, Sindika Dokolo, were the subject of a seizure order.

Continue reading...

Sudan signals it may send former dictator Omar al-Bashir to ICC

Posted on by

Talks resolve to send ‘those who face arrest warrants’ for war crimes to The Hague

Sudan has suggested it is prepared to hand over the former dictator Omar al-Bashir to the international criminal court in The Hague to face trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The decision marks a dramatic shift from the previous official position of the country’s new rulers, though observers warned that many obstacles still needed to be overcome before the 76-year-old reached a court room.

Continue reading...

Food fears grow as swarms of locusts reach Uganda and Tanzania

Posted on by

Outbreak in east Africa has already devastated crops across a swath of Kenya and Somalia

Massive swarms of locusts sweeping across much of east Africa have reached Uganda and Tanzania, the United Nations has said, threatening millions more people with hunger in an already fragile region.

Tanzania has detected swarms in its northern border areas close to Mount Kilimanjaro and hired three planes to spray pesticide, a tactic seen as the most effective means of countering the spread of the insects.

Continue reading...

Militia strike gold to cast a shadow over Sudan’s hopes of prosperity

Posted on by

Supported by wealthy foreign backers, a feared paramilitary outfit controls Sudan’s most lucrative industry, complicating the country’s path to democracy

Ornate, heavy necklaces gleam on stands above stacks of thick filigree bangles in the windows of Khartoum’s gold market. The gold is Sudanese, dug from the rich mines that span the country.

Shop owner Bashir Abdulay hands over a palm-sized lump of pure gold with two small bore holes as he explains how the prized metal goes from mine deposit, through middlemen, to Khartoum.

Continue reading...

Italy alarmed after Egyptian studying in Bologna arrested in Cairo

Posted on by

Case of Patrick Zaky doing master’s on gender and human rights echoes that of murdered Italian student Giulio Regeni

An Egyptian researcher who is studying in Italy has been arrested on arrival in Cairo on charges of “harming national security”, sparking alarm among Italy’s authorities who fear a repeat of the case of murdered Italian doctoral student Giulio Regeni.

Patrick Zaky, a graduate student at the University of Bologna, was arrested at Cairo airport during a visit to see family. Zaky is a researcher on gender and human rights at the Cairo-based Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), which said he was covertly taken from the airport and interrogated at facilities belonging to Egypt’s national security agency in Cairo and Mansoura, his home town.

Continue reading...

More than half of women in Zimbabwe have faced sextortion, finds survey

Posted on by

Widespread corruption and deteriorating economy have contributed to rise in sexual bribery, say researchers

Zimbabwe has recorded an unprecedented number of women reporting being forced to exchange sex for employment or business favours.

More than 57% of women surveyed by Transparency International Zimbabwe (TIZ) said they had been forced to offer sexual favours in exchange for jobs, medical care and even when seeking placements at schools for their children.

Continue reading...

Armed ecoguards funded by WWF ‘beat up Congo tribespeople’

Posted on by

Exclusive: Inquiry into $21.4m conservation project reports ‘credible’ evidence of abuse

Armed ecoguards partly funded by the conservation group WWF to protect wildlife in the Republic of the Congo beat up and intimidated hundreds of Baka pygmies living deep in the rainforests, an investigation into a landmark global conservation project has heard.

A team of investigators sent to northern Congo by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) to assess allegations of human rights abuses gathered “credible” evidence from different sources that hunter-gatherer Baka tribespeople living close to a proposed national park had been subjected to violence and physical abuse from the guards over years, according to a leaked draft of the report.

Continue reading...

US customs dismantled ‘impossible to replace’ instrument, Mali musician says

Posted on by
  • Harp-like kora arrived in pieces in Paris with note from TSA
  • ‘Would US customs have dared to dismantle a Stradivarius?’

Malian musician Ballaké Sissoko has accused US border officials of breaking his “impossible to replace” musical instrument during a security check.

Sissoko plays the kora, a west African instrument whose 21 strings can sound similar to a harp. US border officials said they did not open the instrument case.

Continue reading...

We will end female genital mutilation only by backing frontline activists

Posted on by

From the Gambia to Kenya, FGM has been fought most successfully at grassroots level. The world must pay heed

I underwent female genital mutilation at the age of seven, while on holiday in Djibouti. When I returned to school in the UK my teacher told me that this happened to “girls like me”.

Thankfully, this type of reaction is no longer common, and this country is much better equipped to protect girls at risk. FGM is now seen as a global issue, which we know has affected more than 200 million women and girls around the world.

Continue reading...

UK taxpayers funding African fossil fuel projects worth $750m

Posted on by

Watchdog reveals huge sum ploughed into ‘world’s dirtiest fossil fuels’ despite climate vow

UK taxpayer funds totalling $750m (£577m) have been invested in new fossil fuel projects in developing African countries despite the government’s public commitment to tackling the climate crisis, according to an international watchdog.

Global Witness found that a London-based investment group raised $1bn from the UK government over 16 years and spent three-quarters of this supporting oil and gas projects in some of Africa’s poorest countries.

Continue reading...

Lesotho’s first lady charged with murder of PM’s former wife

Posted on by

Police claim ‘strong case’ against Maesiah Thabane for 2017 killing of Lipolelo Thabane

Lesotho’s first lady Maesiah Thabane has been charged with murder for her alleged links to the brutal 2017 killing of the prime minister’s previous wife.

Maesiah Thabane, 42, will spend the night in custody after she came out of hiding and turned herself in to the police earlier on Tuesday.

Continue reading...