Constitutional declaration follows the arrest of nine paramilitaries for killing four schoolchildren
Sudan’s ruling generals and protest leaders have reached an agreement to usher in a new period of transitional government, the African Union said.
The agreement came after prolonged negotiations between Sudan’s ruling military council and the Alliance for Freedom and Change, which has been leading the protest movement across Sudan for months.
Continue reading...Student, who fell from aircraft, had reportedly suffered severe reaction to prescribed drugs
Police in Madagascar are investigating whether a British student who died after falling from a light plane deliberately opened the doors after suffering a severe reaction to medication.
Alana Cutland, 19, who has been described by her family as a “bright, independent young woman”, fell from the two-door Cessna C168 on 25 July. She had been carrying out research in the remote area of Anjajavy on the island off Africa’s east coast.
Continue reading...Stella Nyanzi vows to persist with criticism of Yoweri Museveni after receiving 18-month prison sentence for cyber harassment
Stella Nyanzi, the Ugandan women’s rights activist and staunch government critic who once called head of state Yoweri Museveni “a pair of buttocks”, has received an 18-month jail sentence after she was found guilty of cyber harassment against the president.
Nyanzi, a former researcher at Makerere University, was arrested on 2 November after posting a poem on Facebook that the state deemed abusive towards Museveni and his late mother.
Continue reading...Abdirahman Omar Osman was a naturalised Briton who once worked as a council housing manager in London
The mayor of Mogadishu has died after being badly wounded in an al-Shabaab extremist attack in his office last week, the government of Somalia has announced.
Abdirahman Omar Osman was a naturalised Briton who returned to Somalia to help rebuild the war-torn country. He spent 17 years in the UK including a stint as housing manager at Ealing council in west London.
Continue reading...British student died following her fall from airplane shortly after takeoff
A British student who died after falling from an airplane flying over Madagascar opened the door of the aircraft herself, according to local police.
Alana Cutland, who was described as a “bright, independent young woman”, was on a research trip on the island. Officers there told the BBC and the Sun newspaper she fell shortly after the Cessna C168 on which she was travelling took off.
Continue reading...Closure follows second Ebola death in densely populated city of Goma, on Rwandan border
Rwanda has closed its border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, where a deadly Ebola outbreak that started a year ago has killed more than 1,803 people.
The closure came after a second death linked to the Ebola virus was confirmed on Wednesday in the densely populated Congolese city of Goma, which is on the porous border with Rwanda.
Continue reading...World Health Organization confirms a second person has died of the disease in a major transit hub in Democratic Republic of Congo
A second death linked to the Ebola virus has been confirmed in the densely populated city of Goma, located at the Democratic Republic of Congo’s porous border with Rwanda.
The first case of Ebola in Goma – an evangelical preacher – contributed to the World Health Organization decision to declare the Ebola crisis in DRC an international public health emergency.
Continue reading...Seham Sergiwa was taken by armed men after she criticised Haftar offensive in Tripoli
The family of a Libyan member of parliament and campaigner abducted by armed men two weeks ago fear she may have been subjected to torture and sexual violence.
Seham Sergiwa, who is also a prominent women’s rights activist, disappeared from her home in the eastern city of Benghazi on 17 July and has not been heard from since.
Continue reading...Private equity company 8 Miles channels funds through Mauritius in a ‘depressingly routine’ arrangement
At their closest point, Europe and Africa are just eight miles apart. That’s the inspiration for the name of Sir Bob Geldof’s private equity firm, 8 Miles, set up to channel investment into successful businesses in Africa.
But we learned last week that 8 Miles’ cash travels considerably further than this on its way from one continent to the other. It has established a cluster of companies in Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean, which funds pass through.
Continue reading...Four men have been charged with distributing a phoney miracle cure which they claimed would cure HIV, malaria and cancer
A British man and three Ugandans have been charged and held in remand in connection with carrying out illegal clinical trials and administering people with industrial bleach.
Sam Little, 25, from Arlesey in Bedfordshire, Tim Tom, a pastor at Fort portal Christian fellowship, and herbalists Samuel Albert and Samula Tadeo were charged in Uganda for allegedly distributing a liquid called Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS) to villagers in poor areas, which they claimed cured HIV, malaria and cancer.
Continue reading...Regular patrols are helping to ensure villagers in Kano state are practising good hygiene, to improve sanitation and cut disease
When Nasiru Ibrahim goes on patrol around his village, he’s not looking out for criminal activities, or the usual community problems. Instead, Ibrahim is making sure people in Yammawar Kafawa, in northern Nigeria’s Kano state, are using toilets.
Last October, the villagers agreed to stop defecating in fields, bushes and streets, and instead use the newly-built toilets, as part of the Nigerian government’s drive to end open defecation by 2025.
Continue reading...Rapid Support Forces opened fire on peaceful protest against shortages in El-Obaid
At least four students were killed when security forces opened fire on a protest in central Sudan on Monday. The oldest was 16, the youngest 14, locals said. The death toll is expected to rise.
Witnesses described how militia from the feared Rapid Support Forces (RSF) fired on teenagers, many of whom were wearing school uniforms and carrying school bags, as they marched peacefully in protest at shortages of water, electricity and public transport in El-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan state. There were also reports of at least one adult casualty.
Continue reading...National ‘green legacy’ initiative aims to reduce environmental degradation
About 350m trees have been planted in a single day in Ethiopia, according to a government minister.
The planting is part of a national “green legacy” initiative to grow 4bn trees in the country this summer by encouraging every citizen to plant at least 40 seedlings. Public offices have reportedly been shut down in order for civil servants to take part.
Continue reading...Local official says extremists killed more than 60 people in attack on mourners
More than 60 mourners leaving a funeral in north-east Nigeria have been killed by the militant group Boko Haram, according to Nigerian officials and other sources in the area.
Ten years after the group’s founder, Mohammed Yusuf, was murdered in police custody after a crackdown on his followers, Boko Haram’s factions are continuing to wage a bloody insurgency against the Nigerian security forces and civilians, defying government attempts to destroy the group.
Continue reading...Up to 150 have died in what is thought be deadliest incident in Mediterranean this year
Dozens of bodies have been recovered from the Mediterranean, a day after the shipwreck that caused the deaths of up to 150 migrants.
Eyewitnesses described harrowing scenes in the sea, in what a senior UN official called the “the worst Mediterranean tragedy” so far this year.
Continue reading...The death of fair trade (Journal, 23 July) can partly be laid at the door of the EU. Its treatment of former colonies, restricting tariff-free trade to “primary produce” so that the profitable part of the businesses, manufacture, is protected, means that they may be independent in terms of politics, but are economically still the same colonies.
Take Ghana, which Samanth Subramanian mentions. Go and buy your bar of “Fairtrade” Divine chocolate. On the back it waxes lyrical about Kuapa Kokoo, the cocoa farmers’ organisation that tries to guarantee fair and stable prices for cocoa beans, with a bit extra for the social premium. Read to the end of the small print where it says: “Made in Germany”. Ghana has a perfectly good chocolate factory, at the port town of Tema, but workers only make chocolate for the local market, because that is all they are allowed to do. Ghana would be a lot richer if it could sell the manufactured product over here, but that would be in direct competition with the German manufacturer, which the EU is formed to protect. That is why I voted leave in the referendum – though I probably would not do so again, as Brexit is unlikely to improve the situation.
Tim Gossling
Cambridge
Airline suspended flights to Egyptian capital last Saturday as a precautionary measure
British Airways said on Thursday it would resume flights to Cairo following a week’s suspension, having reviewed its security measures.
BA flights to and from the Egyptian capital will start again on Friday, it said in a statement.
Continue reading...Ethiopia’s conflicts are reflected at universities but, by walking in each other’s shoes on stage, students learn to do so in life
Rainy season has begun in Ethiopia’s south. On a stormy morning at a university in the town of Wolkite, students are using drama to break down entrenched ethnic barriers.
Understanding between groups is a rarity in a country where violent conflict is common. Ethiopia’s prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, has promised greater stability, but tensions remain high in various regions and the education system is no more immune to deep-rooted tribal differences than anywhere else.
Continue reading...Call for new Geneva convention to protect wildlife and nature reserves in conflict regions
International lawmakers should adopt a fifth Geneva convention that recognises damage to nature alongside other war crimes, according to an open letter by 24 prominent scientists.
The legal instrument should incorporate wildlife safeguards in conflict regions, including protections for nature reserves, controls on the spread of guns used for hunting and measures to hold military forces to account for damage to the environment, say the signatories to the letter, published in the journal Nature.
Continue reading...The Congolese trading city of Butembo relies on its ‘taxi-motos’ to keep business running, but the taxi unions are resistant to helping government Ebola efforts – and their bikes could be spreading the disease
Swarms of motorcycle taxis overloaded with passengers and goods weave their way through traffic in the eastern Congolese city of Butembo. Motorbikes far outnumber four-wheeled vehicles on the dusty roads of the regional trading hub, especially downtown, where drivers laden with cargo carve their way through crowded street markets.
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