Category Archives: Africa

Contractor, actor … protest leader? The Egyptian exile driving rare dissent

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Mohamed Ali is unlikely source of viral videos about corruption that have stirred resentment

Hundreds of protesters have taken to the streets across Egypt since Friday in a rare show of public dissent against Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi’s rule. But the call for demonstrations came from an unlikely source: a contractor and part-time actor living in exile in Barcelona, who has made bold corruption claims in a string of viral videos.

Mohamed Ali is a former military contractor who addresses Egyptians from his apartment, shirt often unbuttoned and cigarette in hand. His colloquial style of speech, sometimes swearing in an accent more working class than his own, is intended to present a man-of-the-people appeal. Ali has called for a million Egyptians to march on Friday.

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Robert O’Brien attended ‘routinely racist’ university in apartheid South Africa

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Donald Trump’s new national security adviser studied at the segregated University of the Orange Free State

Donald Trump’s new national security adviser attended a segregated university in South Africa, described by one of its former vice-chancellors as “routinely racist”.

Robert O’Brien, a relatively junior official appointed to the top White House post on Wednesday, went to the University of the Orange Free State under the South African apartheid system. O’Brien’s LinkedIn page says he was there in 1987, while still an undergraduate. He received a scholarship from Rotary International and according to its records he was there from 1986. The first black undergraduate was admitted in 1988.

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Fallout from Thomas Cook collapse felt across Europe and Africa

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Governments are in crisis-planning mode over efforts to repatriate 500,000 tourists

The collapse of Thomas Cook has plunged governments across Europe and Africa into crisis-planning mode as they help with the repatriation of more than 500,000 stranded tourists and begin to count the cost of the holiday company’s demise on already-battered economies.

About 50,000 holidaymakers are stranded in Greece, 21,000 in Turkey, 15,000 in Cyprus and 4,500 in Tunisia. Thousands of tourists are also stuck in the US and dozens of other countries. Most of the tourists are from the UK with an estimated 150,000 people, followed by Germany with about 140,000 holidaymakers.

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Alarm over cases of disease with Ebola-like symptoms in Tanzania

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World Health Organization frustrated by lack of clinical data sharing, while Tanzania insists its tests show disease is not Ebola

Several unexplained cases of a disease with Ebola-like symptoms in Tanzania have prompted an extraordinary statement from the World Health Organization questioning the response of the country’s health authorities.

WHO warned that lack of information over the cases, including clinical data, possible contacts and potential laboratory tests performed for differential diagnosis of the patients had not been communicated, leaving it unable to assess the potential risk.

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Gambia’s joy gives way to sinking distrust as Barrow clings to power

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When he ended the brutal 22-year presidency of Yahya Jammeh, he was hailed as a hero. But the hope inspired by Adama Barrow’s ascent has long since faded

Almost three years ago, Yahya Jammeh’s 22-year rule over the small west African nation of the Gambia came to a shock end. Fed up with the constant fear and human rights abuses, a floundering economy and endemic corruption, Gambians voted out one of Africa’s most notorious strongmen.

The man who beat him, estate agent, businessman and one-time Argos security guard Adama Barrow, was a political nobody who united a divided opposition in a coalition, promising to create jobs, repeal bad laws and create a level political playing field. He also promised to be only a transitional president, resigning after three years.

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Hundreds of Egyptians arrested in latest wave of protests against Sisi

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Younger generation takes to the streets in defiance of six-year ban on demonstrations

Hundreds of Egyptians have been swept up in a campaign of arrests targeting protesters, as demonstrations against Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi’s rule continue.

The Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF), a Cairo-based NGO, reported on Sunday that at least 220 people had been arrested since protests began on Friday night. The organisation said it had set up an “emergency room” to deal with the spike in arrests, and that at least 100 more people were likely to have been detained after protests in Suez, Alexandria and Giza. Another NGO, the Egyptian Centre for Economic & Social Rights, stated it had recorded at least 274 arrests since the demonstrations began.

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‘A crazy amount of talent’: contemporary art thrives in Harare

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An unexpected post-Mugabe boom has caught the attention of international art collectors

In a makeshift studio, in an empty house on a ridge with a spectacular view of trees and blue sky, two artists are setting out brushes and paint. Half-finished canvases lean against walls. The bustle and noise of the city is far away.

Gresham Tapiwa Nyaude and Helen Teede are among a new wave of young artists in Zimbabwe who are attracting attention from collectors and curators worldwide. Both now work in a converted house surrounded by forest, a 40-minute drive from the capital, Harare.

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US man drowns while proposing marriage to his girlfriend in Tanzania

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Underwater proposal gone tragically wrong was recorded and posted to Facebook

A woman has paid a heartbreaking tribute to her boyfriend, who drowned while proposing marriage to her in Tanzania.

Kenesha Antoine posted a video on Facebook of her boyfriend, Steven Weber, swimming up to the window of their underwater room at the Manta Resort on Pemba Island, off Tanzania.

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Egyptian forces fire teargas at anti-Sisi protesters in Cairo

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At least 55 people reported arrested over protests calling for President Sisi to stand down

Hundreds of Egyptians took to the streets in Cairo and other cities in rare protests against the country’s president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, responding to an online call for a demonstration against government corruption.

Videos shared on social media showed protesters in central Cairo as well as the port cities of Alexandria and Suez, demanding that Sisi leave office. Protests also occurred in the towns of Damietta, Damanhur and Mahalla.

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Nigerian army orders closure of aid agency for ‘aiding terrorism’

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Action Against Hunger urges authorities to allow ‘life-saving’ work to continue after sanction imposed without ‘notice or explanation’

The Nigerian army has ordered Action Against Hunger to close its main office in Maiduguri, in Nigeria’s north-eastern Borno state, amid allegations the group has been “aiding and abetting terrorism”.

Soldiers forced the organisation to stop its work in the region on 18 September.

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Zimbabwe union leader found alive after reported abduction

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Peter Magombeyi, who was overseeing a doctors’ strike, turns up confused and in pain

A doctor and labour activist in Zimbabwe whose reported abduction led to widespread protests by medical staff has been found, disoriented and in pain but alive.

Peter Magombeyi, the acting president of the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association (ZHDA), disappeared at about 10pm (2100 BST) local time on Saturday. The union leader sent a short message to colleagues saying he believed he was being kidnapped before all communications ceased.

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Rise in children forced to join militias raises fresh fears over South Sudan

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Growing number of young fighters combined with sexual violence and ethnic tensions threatens return to civil war, UN warns

UN investigators have warned that despite the fragile peace in South Sudan, the recruitment of children into the army and militias is on the increase as each side seeks to bolster infantry numbers.

The investigators also warned that sexual violence against women and localised ethnic violence are increasing tensions that could return the country to civil war.

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Honey project brings sweet success for families in Zambia

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Beehives built out of scrap wood in the country’s virgin forests have reaped rewards for 10,000 local families

A former hedge fund manager has become one of Africa’s most prolific single-source honey producers through a social enterprise that impacts thousands of families.

The Zambia-based organisation, Mama Buci – meaning “Mother Honey” in Bemba, the local language – was started 10 years ago by former trader Martin Zuch and has since grown to provide more than 10,000 families with income.

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Zimbabwe union leader still missing after suspected abduction

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Activists fear Peter Magombeyi was kidnapped by state agents for role in doctors’ strike

Concerns are growing for a doctor and labour activist in Zimbabwe who remains missing more than 48 hours after his abduction by suspected state security agents.

Peter Magombeyi, the acting president of the Zimbabwean Hospital Doctors Association (ZHDA), disappeared at around 10pm on Saturday. The union leader sent a short message to colleagues saying he believed he was being kidnapped before all communications ceased.

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Former minister arrested over alleged mismanagement of Congo Ebola funds

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Oly Ilunga detained in connection with $4.3m allocated for fighting the deadly virus

The former health minister for the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been arrested over the alleged mismanagement of $4.3m (£3.4m) dedicated to the Ebola response.

Oly Ilunga, who resigned as health minister in July having been removed from leading the Ebola response by President Félix Tshisekedi, has denied any wrongdoing.

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Tunisian exit polls suggest shock victory for political outsiders

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Kaïs Saïed and media mogul Nabil Karoui appear to have taken the top two spots and will progress to a runoff

The first exit polls in Tunisia’s presidential elections suggest a shock victory for two political outsiders, law professor Kaïs Saïed and media mogul Nabil Karoui, who is on remand in prison on corruption charges he denies.

The early results indicate that faced with widespread disillusion over the country’s progress in the past eight years since its revolution, Tunisians have rejected politicians associated with the country’s two main political trends who have dominated for the last years, including the moderate Islamist Ennahda party.

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Pomp, thin crowds and mixed feelings as Robert Mugabe is buried

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The bands played but the funeral of Zimbabwe’s ex-president was a strange affair in a divided nation

At just before 11.30am, the thousands of mourners in the vast bowl of Zimbabwe’s national stadium stood and the casket carrying the mortal remains of Robert Gabriel Mugabe began its short journey across the green grass to the podium where it would lie during the long, hot hours of the funeral.

A military brass band led the procession. Then came the bereaved family and Mugabe’s successor, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, followed by foreign dignitaries, before a small crowd of ministers and officials from the ruling Zanu-PF party.

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Robert Mugabe’s state funeral takes place in Harare

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Foreign dignitaries and opposition leaders attend service for Zimbabwe’s founding president

Thousands of mourners sang the praises of Robert Mugabe on Saturday at the official funeral ceremony for the Zimbabwe’s founding president in Harare.

A military brass band led family members, officials from the ruling Zanu-PF party and foreign dignitaries from across Africa on a short parade across the grass of the national stadium in front of the coffin, which was draped in the national flag.

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‘Tunisia’s Berlusconi’ the wild card as nation goes to the polls

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Jailed Nabil Karoui hopes to appeal to voters disillusioned by lack of progress since Arab spring

Campaigning ends on Friday in Tunisia’s presidential election before Sunday’s first round of voting, pitting more than two dozen candidates against each other, including a media mogul running for office from jail.

Tunisia is the last of the Arab spring countries still on a democratic track, after Egypt slipped back toward authoritarianism and Syria and Libya descended into conflict.

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Global renewable energy initiative aims to bring a billion people in from the dark

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Worldwide commission aims to end energy poverty in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia by driving investment in new technology

Electricity could be delivered to more than a billion people currently living without it within a decade by linking up small-scale projects into a giant, environmentally-friendly network.

According to a new global commission, advances in micro energy grids and renewable energy technologies could “dramatically accelerate change” and transform lives in rural areas of sub-Saharan African and south Asia.

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