Category Archives: Africa

Internet shutdowns at record high in Africa as access ‘weaponised’

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More governments seeking to keep millions of people offline amid conflicts, protests and political instability

Digital blackouts reached a record high in 2024 in Africa as more governments sought to keep millions of citizens off the internet than in any other period over the last decade.

A report released by the internet rights group Access Now and #KeepItOn, a coalition of hundreds of civil society organisations worldwide, found there were 21 shutdowns in 15 African countries, surpassing the existing record of 19 shutdowns in 2020 and 2021.

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Global celebrations and protests mark International Women’s Day

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From Istanbul and Warsaw to Athens and Madrid, activists demand equality and the end of gender-based violence

Women took to the streets of cities across Europe, Africa and elsewhere to mark International Women’s Day with demands for ending inequality and gender-based violence.

On the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city Istanbul, a rally in Kadiköy saw members of dozens of women’s groups listen to speeches, dance and sing in the spring sunshine. The colorful protest was overseen by a large police presence, including officers in riot gear and a water cannon truck.

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Around the world in 60 hours: Nigerian aims to set travel record with ‘low-mobility’ passport

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Alma Asinobi wants to break Guinness world record for shortest time to visit seven continents

In 2019, Alma Asinobi, a Nigerian postgraduate architecture student, gave herself an ambitious goal after obtaining her first passport: to visit up to 16 countries every year.

Then Covid-19 triggered a global lockdown, curtailing her dreams. Since restrictions were lifted, she has visited more than 30 countries and founded a travel agency, Kaijego.

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South Sudan general among dozens killed in attack on UN helicopter

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President Salva Kiir appeals for calm while analysts say escalating tensions could lead to full-blown conflict

A South Sudanese general and dozens of soldiers have been killed after a United Nations helicopter trying to evacuate them from the northern town of Nasir came under attack, the government has said.

The UN said Friday’s incident, which could deal a blow to an already fragile peace process, was “utterly abhorrent” and a possible war crime.

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Nigerian king faces Shell in London high court over decades of oil spills

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King Okpabi, ruler of Ogale, says Shell has caused chronic pollution, while oil firm argues it is not responsible

His Royal Highness King Godwin Bebe Okpabi has carried bottles of water drawn from the wells of his homeland in the Niger delta to the high court in London.

It stinks. “This is the water that Shell has left for my people,” said the ruler of the Ogale community in Ogoniland, Nigeria. “This is poison, and they are spending millions of dollars to pay the best lawyers in the world so that they will not clean my land.”

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Evidence of torture found as detention centre and mass grave discovered outside Khartoum

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Exclusive: What appears to be a vast burial site found at former Rapid Support Forces base in Sudan, while rescued detainees speak of torture, starvation and deaths of fellow inmates

More than 500 people may have been tortured or starved to death and then buried in a secret mass grave north of Khartoum, according to evidence seen by the Guardian.

A visit to a base belonging to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) shortly after it was retaken by the Sudanese military found a previously unknown detention centre, with manacles hanging from doors, apparent punishment chambers and bloodstains on the floor. Accounts from people held at the detention centre describe being repeatedly tortured by their captors.

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Nearly half of women in Africa will be obese or overweight by 2030 – study

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Stigma, lack of treatment and disproportionate rise of the disease in women draws comparisons with HIV epidemic

An alarming rise in obesity in Africa has been compared with the HIV epidemic, with stigma and lack of treatment having a disproportionate impact on women.

Almost half of women in Africa will be obese or overweight by the end of the decade, according to a recent study by the World Obesity Federation.

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Refugees in Kenya’s Kakuma camp clash with police after food supplies cut

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Teargas fired during protest at reduced rations after US aid freeze wipes out half of World Food Programme budget

Thousands of refugees clashed with police in a Kenyan refugee camp this week after receiving news that their food allocations would be cut because of funding problems.

The UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, confirmed that four refugees and a local government official had been injured when police intervened to stop the protesters at the Kakuma refugee camp on Monday.

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Former Gabon youth coach banned for life by Fifa over sexual abuse of players

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  • Patrick Assoumou Eyi found guilty by Fifa
  • Eyi banned for life and fined 1m Swiss francs

Fifa has banned the former Gabon youth-team coach Patrick Assoumou Eyi, known as “Capello”, for life after its adjudicatory chamber found him guilty of committing repeated acts of sexual abuse against multiple players.

Eyi – who left his post as head coach of Gabon’s under-17 team in 2017 – admitted charges of raping, grooming and exploiting young players after allegations first reported by the Guardian in 2021. One former player who was coached by Eyi claimed he would lure alleged victims to his home, which he called the “Garden of Eden”.

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Campaigners celebrate court ruling to ‘decolonise’ Kampala

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After a five-year campaign, landmarks and streets honouring British colonialists will be renamed to reflect Ugandan culture

Campaigners have welcomed a court ruling to remove British colonial monuments from Uganda’s capital, Kampala, and to rename streets that honour “crooks and historical figureheads”.

In last week’s high court ruling, Justice Musa Ssekaana directed the city authorities to remove the names of British figures from streets, monuments and other landmarks.

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World Food Programme to close office in southern Africa after Trump aid cuts

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UN food agency received half its budget from US last year and is accelerating merger plan as a result of funding cuts

The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) is closing its southern Africa office in the wake of the Trump administration’s aid cuts.

In a statement, a spokesperson said the office in Johannesburg would close and the WFP would consolidate its southern and east Africa operations into one regional office in Nairobi, Kenya.

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Macron says French-Algerian author under ‘arbitrary detention’ in Algeria

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French president concerned for health of Boualem Sansal who has gone on hunger strike over his imprisonment

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has said he is concerned about the “arbitrary detention” and health of Boualem Sansal, days after the French-Algerian author began a hunger strike over his imprisonment in Algeria.

On Tuesday, Pen America issued a statement calling for the immediate release of 75-year-old Sansal, noting that “his hunger strike adds to grave concerns for his wellbeing”.

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US shutdown of HIV/Aids funding ‘could lead to 500,000 deaths in South Africa’

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USAid cuts to clinics dispensing antiretroviral drugs will be ‘death sentence for mothers and children’, expert warns

Sweeping notices of termination of funding have been received by organisations working with HIV and Aids across Africa, with dire predictions of a huge rise in deaths as a result.

After the US announced a permanent end to funding for HIV projects, services across the board have been affected, say doctors and programme managers, from projects helping orphans and pregnant women to those reaching transgender individuals and sex workers.

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Weather tracker: six cyclones swirl simultaneously in southern hemisphere

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Bianca, Garance and Honde churn across Indian Ocean as Alfred, Rae and Seru spin through south-west Pacific

An uncommon meteorological event unfolded on Tuesday when six named tropical cyclones were active simultaneously in the southern hemisphere, several in close proximity to one another.

Three developed in the south-west Pacific. Severe Tropical Cyclone Alfred formed on 20 February in the Coral Sea to the north-east of Australia, reaching an intensity equivalent to a category 4 hurricane on Thursday with sustained winds of 105mph (170km/h) and gusts at about 140mph.

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Trump administration ends funding for UN program fighting HIV/Aids

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Peter Marocco sends letter to UNAids terminating US involvement in serious blow to live-saving health service

The Trump administration has terminated its funding of the joint United Nations program on HIV/Aids, known as UNAids, delivering another devastating blow to the global fight against the disease.

The notice that US funding of UNAids is being cut off is the latest move by the administration to end American involvement in life-saving health and anti-poverty programs around the world. It was issued by Peter Marocco, a Trump loyalist who is spearheading the evisceration of the US overseas aid program through USAid.

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Deadly blasts hit M23 rebel rally in captured DRC city of Bukavu

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Deaths and injuries reported after explosions at rally attended by thousands in city captured by rebel group

Several people have been killed and dozens more injured after blasts at a mass rally held by the M23 group in Bukavu, the city in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo captured by the rebels earlier this month.

Footage posted on social media showed people fleeing the scene. In another video, bloodied bodies lay on the ground and injured people were being carried away.

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King asks Moroccans not to kill sheep for Eid al-Adha as drought reduces herds

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First such request in 29 years blames economic hardship and climate crisis for high livestock prices and shortages

King Mohammed VI has urged his fellow Moroccans not to slaughter sheep for upcoming Eid al-Adha festivities as the country grapples with dwindling herds due to a six-year drought.

The request was delivered on Wednesday by the minister of Islamic affairs, Ahmed Toufiq, who read a letter on the monarch’s behalf on the state-run Al Aoula TV channel. He cited economic hardship and the climate crisis as reasons for the rising prices of livestock and sheep shortage in the north African state.

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Mother of Egypt detainee ready to end hunger strike if UK makes progress

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Laila Soueif was hospitalised with low blood sugar this week as she tries to secure release of son Alaa Abd el-Fattah

A mother declared at risk of sudden death due to her 150-day hunger strike to free her jailed son has been persuaded to end her fast if UK ministers show any sign of progress in efforts to seek his release.

Laila Soueif, 68, is seeking the release of her son, the British-Egyptian prize-winning writer Alaa Abd el-Fattah, from a jail in Cairo. She has attempted to protest outside Downing Street for an hour each weekday to keep her son’s cause in the minds of ministers.

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Activists call for state of emergency in Nigeria over gender-based violence

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Deaths of 22 women reported this year include 240% rise in January, campaigners say, as abusers act ‘with impunity’

Almost two dozen women have died due to gender-based violence across Nigeria in 2025 alone, activists and civil society organisations have said in a call for a state of emergency.

According to Femicide Observatory, run by the Lagos-based nonprofit Document Our History (DOHS) Cares Foundation, there were 17 cases reported in January, a 240% increase from the same period last year, with an additional five by 16 February. More than 100 femicides were documented in 2024.

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Missing British businessman’s body found in Kenyan forest

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Campbell Scott, a senior director at Fico, was reported missing while in Nairobi for a three-day conference

Police searching for a British businessman missing in Kenya have recovered a body, found in a sack in scrubland about 60 miles from Nairobi, reports said.

Campbell Scott, 58, a senior director at the data analytics company Fico, went missing on 16 February after arriving in the Kenyan capital to attend a conference at the JW Marriott hotel.

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