Category Archives: Africa

How vegetarianism is going back to its roots in Africa

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Health and climate concerns are behind the growth of plant-based diets which were once prevalent on the continent

In the meat-loving capital of Burkina Faso, customers at a small roadside joint eat bean balls, grilled tofu skewers and peanut butter rice while a report about chickens unfit for consumption being dumped on the street airs on the midday news.

A sign above the door proudly welcomes customers: “Vegetarian restaurant Nasa. Food for the love of health.” In Ouagadougou’s first plant-based restaurant, there are no knives on the tables.

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Food for thought: the school lunch scheme linking London and Liberia

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By providing free school meals to some of the poorest children on Earth, a UK charity is also ensuring they get an education

It’s breakfast time in Domagbamatma (population: 63) in the depths of the Liberian rainforest, but there’s no food in evidence in the home of Massa Kamara. The eight-year-old has been up since dawn, collecting firewood, fetching water.

Now she’s ready for school in a crisp white shirt and navy-blue skirt in her family’s muddy, two-room shack.

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Libyan warlord Haftar leaves Moscow without signing ceasefire deal

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General had been in Russian capital seeking deal with head of Libya’s UN-recognised government

Libya’s eastern strongman Gen Khalifa Haftar has left Moscow without signing a ceasefire agreement to end nine months of fighting in the country, leaving the future of a fragile truce uncertain..

The commander’s abrupt departure in the early hours of Tuesday was a setback for an international diplomatic push in recent days, though Moscow insisted it would continue mediation efforts.

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‘The dates are drying’: profits shrivel for farmers as the heat rises in Tunisia

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Irrigation systems and oases in the arid south are failing to keep up with the demands of thirsty palm plantations

Mansour Rajeb is wrapping a plastic protective sheet around the branch of a date palm in his oasis near the village of Bchelli, in southern Tunisia. Tying it up, he lingers.

“I’m worried,” he says. “The quality is getting worse. The dates are getting drier.”

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Malawi police face legal action over failure to investigate alleged rapes

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Lawyers move to make headway with inquiry into accusations of police abuses during post-election violence

A group of lawyers in Malawi is taking legal action against the police for failing to investigate allegations of rape against their officers during post-election protests.

Mphatso Iphani, a spokesperson for the Women Lawyers Association of Malawi, said that three months since the alleged attacks, “no concrete action has been taken, despite the sheer amount of evidence that the girls and women were assaulted”.

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Two refugees killed after leaving crowded UN facility in Libya

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Circumstances of deaths raise concerns about pressure on gathering and departure facilities

The fatal shooting of two Eritrean men in Libya has raised concerns about overcrowding in UN facilities for refugees there.

The pair were reportedly killed in Tripoli last Thursday, days after the UN refugee agency had pressed them to leave a so-called gathering and departure facility (GDF).

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Libya ceasefire in doubt as rival forces accuse each other of breaches

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Warring sides also plan to deploy more troops despite Russian-Turkish brokered deal

A Russian-Turkish brokered ceasefire between the two warring groups in Libya was struggling to take hold in Tripoli as both sides accused the other of breaches and laid out plans to mobilise more forces.

In a breakthrough on Saturday, both sides in the civil war – the UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), based in Tripoli, and the Libyan National Army (LNA) forces led from the east of Libya by Gen Khalifa Haftar – agreed to a ceasefire proposed last week by Russia and Turkey.

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Uganda’s thirst for hydropower raises fears for environment

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Murchison Falls is a magnet for tourism but energy projects, not least a possible dam, threaten the wildlife haven

Along the road that takes you into Murchison Falls national park, animals once roamed freely. Narrow roads provided the perfect environment for them, so “they [didn’t] feel like they are in a foreign land”, says tour operator Everest Kayondo.

But not any more. The park’s lush forest is being uprooted and red trucks and yellow diggers stand ready to pave the road – and the way for new energy projects.

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Fresh attempt to sue Libya for supplying IRA with Semtex explosive

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Claims lodged in high court in Belfast on behalf of victims of bombings in Northern Ireland

A fresh attempt to sue Libya for supplying the IRA with the plastic explosive Semtex during the Troubles is being launched by victims and the bereaved in Northern Ireland.

Claims have been lodged with the high court in Belfast on Thursday on behalf of two men who are seeking compensation respectively for the 1993 Shankill Road bombing and a blast on the Falls Road, west Belfast, in 1988.

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Confusion clouds international efforts to reach Libya ceasefire

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Erdoğan and Putin make call for ceasefire, as Italian PM hosts Libyan factions in Rome

An unprecedented drive involving Europe, Russia and Turkey has been launched to broker a Libyan ceasefire, and end the risk of the country collapsing into total all-out war.

However, it is unclear to which extent the joint Russian-Turkish call for a ceasefire by 12 January should be seen as complementary or in competition to an intensified Italian-led European push to end the fighting.

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Train in vain: South African rail passengers left stranded for a day

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Railway operator apologises for delay of more than 24 hours to Johannesburg-Cape Town train

South Africa’s state-owned rail operator has apologised after passengers were left stranded for more than a day on a train from Johannesburg to Cape Town.

Shosholoza Meyl said the train, which departed on Sunday, was scheduled to arrive in Cape Town on Monday evening. It is now expected to arrive late on Tuesday.

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Yemen heads list of countries facing worst humanitarian disasters in 2020

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Venezuela also in top five as IRC’s David Miliband warns of devastating impact from war, floods, droughts and disease

Yemen has topped an annual watchlist of countries most likely to face humanitarian catastrophe in 2020, for the second year running.

Continued fighting, economic collapse and weak governance mean that more than 24 million Yemenis – about 80% of the population – will be in need of humanitarian assistance this year, according to analysis by the International Rescue Committee (IRC), which found that another five years of conflict could cost $29bn (£22bn).

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Libya chaos intensifies with drone massacre and rebel advances

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Fears UN-backed government may be overrun as key territory lost to Libyan National Army

The nine-month assault on the UN-backed Libyan government has moved closer to a bloody climax, with the Tripoli administration reeling from the loss of key coastal territory to rebel forces, and a lack of international condemnation of a drone strike that massacred 30 of its military cadets.

Russia and the United Arab Emirates were continuing to pour arms into the country in support of the Libyan National Army rebel forces, led by Gen Khalifa Haftar.

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Surgery by candlelight: hospitals in Nigeria suffer losing power – and staff

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As a failing electric grid further burdens the creaking health system, doctors continue to seek opportunities abroad

The waiting rooms at the Ifako Ijaiye hospital in Lagos are overcrowded with patients waiting to see doctors. Often people have to stand outside.

“It is now like this every day. We have to come early and pick numbers before we can meet the doctors. Even though the doctors try to see everybody, it has got worse,” says Oluchi Ezegbo, a market trader from Okearo, in nearby Ogun state.

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Steep rise in civilians killed or injured in Libya by explosive weaponry

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Data showing downward global trend in explosive harm comes amid fears over rising violence and threat of war in Middle East

Civilians killed or injured in Libya by explosive weapons rose by 131% last year, with the number of incidents at its highest since 2011, the year of the Benghazi uprising, according to new data seen by the Guardian.

Most of the 900 people who died or were hurt in explosions in the country in 2019 – up from 392 in 2018 – were victims of airstrikes, according to statistics from Action on Armed Violence (AOAV), a charity based in London.

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Libyan general Khalifa Haftar’s forces seize key city of Sirte

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Holding city would be a major gain for warlord in battle against Tripoli government

Libyan forces loyal to the eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar said they had taken control of the strategic coastal city of Sirte in a rapid advance preceded by airstrikes.

Holding Sirte would be an important gain for Haftar, who since April has been waging a military offensive on the capital, Tripoli, home to Libya’s internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA).

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Uganda’s pop star MP Bobi Wine arrested as police break up rally

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Gunfire also heard as he tried to hold gathering for 2021 presidential bid

Ugandan police have arrested Bobi Wine and fired teargas at his supporters as the pop star turned politician tried to hold a rally for his 2021 presidential bid.

Wine and his People Power pressure group had aimed to start a programme of consultations with supporters on his plans to challenge Yoweri Museveni, 75, who has ruled Uganda since 1986.

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Home Office faces legal cases over Zimbabwean asylum seekers

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Legality of allowing Harare officials to interview those awaiting removal questioned

The Home Office faces a series of legal challenges over its decision to allow Zimbabwean government officials to interview people from the country who are seeking asylum in the UK.

The government was criticised earlier this year for working with the Zimbabwean state to accelerate the removal of asylum seekers after Robert Mugabe was forced from power, despite continuing human rights abuses in the country.

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Ugandan leader Yoweri Museveni begins six-day trek through jungle

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President’s critics decry plan to retrace steps of his guerrilla forces that seized power in 1986

The Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni, began a six-day march through the jungle on Saturday to retrace the steps of his guerrilla forces when they seized power three decades ago

Museveni is one of Africa’s longest-ruling leaders. He seized power in 1986 after taking part in rebellions to end the rule of Idi Amin and Milton Obote, and is expected to seek a sixth term in office in elections due in 2021. Critics dismissed the march as an attempt to rally support ahead of the poll.

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