Category Archives: Africa

Malawi starts landmark pilot of first ever child malaria vaccine

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Immunisation gives partial protection against the killer disease, and lessens the severity of other cases

Malawi will begin immunising young children against malaria today, in a landmark large-scale pilot of the first vaccine to give partial protection against the disease, the World Health Organization said.

Although the vaccine protects only a third of children aged under two years from life-threatening or severe malaria, clinical trials have found those who are immunised are likely to have less severe cases of the disease. Earlier, smaller trials also showed the vaccine prevented four in 10 cases of malaria overall, in babies aged between five and 17 months.

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Ugandan police detain Bobi Wine and fire teargas at supporters

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Police reportedly pull Wine from car after shutting down concert by pop star turned MP

Ugandan police have detained the pop star turned MP Bobi Wine after shutting down one of his concerts and firing teargas at his fans, according to the singer’s wife and his supporters.

The high-profile government critic was pulled from his car by baton-wielding police as he tried to make his way to the concert venue in southern Kampala on Monday, they said.

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Kalashnikovs and no-go zones: east Burkina Faso falls to militants

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Locals say they live in fear of violence and face harsh punishment for breaking rules

When a stranger arrives in Bartiébougou, the Kalashnikov-wielding men in charge check his ID. But first they check his forehead. They are looking for the indent left by a beret – an instant indication he is a soldier and therefore an enemy spy.

Like much of eastern Burkina Faso, the government has no control over what happens in Bartiébougou; local militants, backed by west African extremist groups, do.

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British woman Faye Mooney killed by kidnappers in Nigeria

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Gunmen also kill Nigerian man and abduct three others near northern city of Kaduna

The family of Faye Mooney, a 29-year-old British aid worker killed in Nigeria by kidnappers, have paid tribute to her bravery and belief in societal change that “took her to places others feared”.

A Nigerian man was also shot dead in the attack on a holiday resort in northwestern Nigeria, 37 miles (60km) south of Kaduna, in which three other people were abducted late on Friday evening, local police and the British high commission said.

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Tripoli hit by airstrikes as Haftar steps up assault on Libyan capital

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It is unclear whether aircraft or drones carried out the strike, which follows US statement in support of Haftar

Several airstrikes, including the first alleged use of armed drones in the conflict, shook Tripoli overnight in an escalation of the United Arab Emirate-backed assault on the Libyan capital led by Khalifa Haftar. The allegations about the use of drones were made by the Government of National Accord (GNA) based in Tripoli, and supported by eyewitnesses.

A Reuters reporter and several Tripoli residents said they saw an aircraft circling for more than 10 minutes over the capital late on Saturday, and that it made a humming sound before opening fire on several areas. Drone strikes make a noticeably different noise from missile strikes.

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Members of ousted president’s former ruling party arrested

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Seizure of officials from Omar al-Bashir’s NCP appears to be aimed at placating protesters

Sudanese authorities have arrested several members of the former ruling party of the ousted president Omar al-Bashir, an official of Bashir’s National Congress party (NCP) has said.

Sudan’s attorney general has also asked the country’s intelligence and national security agencies to lift the immunity of a number of their officers suspected of killing a teacher who died in custody after protests in February, according to the state news agency.

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American founder of Liberia charity resigns in wake of rape allegations

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  • Katie Meyler announces More Than Me departure on Facebook
  • Former staffer was reported to have assaulted school students

An American woman who established a charity to help vulnerable girls in Liberia has resigned, six months after taking a leave of absence in the wake of allegations that a local staffer raped several girls in the charity’s care.

Related: Liberia launches investigation into alleged rapes at US-backed school

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Huge crowds gather in Sudan to demand civilian rule – video

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Large numbers of people join a protest outside Sudan’s defence ministry to demand that the country’s transitional military council hand over power to civilians. The crowds were the largest since Omar al-Bashir was ousted last week after almost 30 years in power and the military council took over.

Protesters chanted: ‘Freedom and revolution are the choice of the people’ and ‘civilian rule, civilian rule’, and waved national flags. Some soldiers were seen joining the protest, firing rifles as the crowds cheered them on.

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Egypt holds snap vote on extending president’s term limit

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Voting in referendum to begin just four days after MPs backed constitutional changes

Egyptians are due to vote in a referendum that is expected to confirm sweeping changes to the constitution and could allow President Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi to remain in power until 2030.

The rush to the ballot boxes was triggered when 531 out of 596 members of parliament backed the constitutional amendments on Tuesday. The national electoral commission declared the next day that the public vote would begin on Saturday.

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‘I don’t know how my children will survive’: Zimbabwe in crisis | Nyasha Chingono

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Cyclone Idai washed away the crops that survived a savage drought, leaving 70% of the population in dire need of food

Mutemarare, 61, walks through his corn field, desperately looking for remnants of maize.

He’s not expecting to find any, as most of his crop wilted before reaching maturity, the result of the devastating drought that has hit Zimbabwe.

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Sudan: huge crowds call for civilian rule in biggest protest since Bashir ousting

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Hundreds of thousands converge on defence ministry demanding military hand over power

Huge crowds formed outside Sudan’s defence ministry to demand the country’s transitional military council hand over power to civilians.

Hundreds of thousands packed the streets by early evening on Thursday – the largest crowds to gather in the centre of the capital since last week, when the former president Omar al-Bashir was ousted and the military council took over.

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Suspects in murder of ex-Rwandan spy chief ‘directly linked to Kigali’ – inquest

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Lawyer for Patrick Karegeya’s family says South African police failures point to abuse of process


The family of the murdered former Rwandan intelligence chief Patrick Karegeya celebrated on Thursday after a South African magistrate said the identities of four suspects were known and police said they were “directly linked” to Rwanda’s government.

At the end of a 20-minute inquest in Johannesburg, the magistrate Mashiane Mathopa said there was a prima facie case to answer and he was sending the matter to South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). Karegeya was found strangled in a Johannesburg hotel room in January 2014.

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Tunisia holds UN Libya arms trafficking expert in jail

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UN says arrest and detention of Moncef Kartas violates diplomatic immunity

A UN-appointed expert on breaches of the Libyan arms embargo has been arrested and kept in a Tunisian jail for nearly a month.

Moncef Kartas, a Tunisian-German dual national, was arrested on 26 March. He is one of six UN experts appointed to investigate breaches of the UN-imposed embargo on arms to Libya first introduced in 2011. The UN says his detention is a violation of his diplomatic immunity.

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Sudan: former president Omar al-Bashir moved to prison

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Ousted leader is being held in solitary confinement in the notorious Kobar prison

Deposed ex-Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has been moved to Khartoum’s grim high-security Kobar prison from the presidential residence, family sources said on Wednesday, as military rulers announced steps to crack down on corruption.

Bashir, 75, had been detained under heavy guard in the presidential residence inside the compound that also houses the defence ministry, before being transferred to Kobar prison late on Tuesday, the sources said. He was being held in solitary confinement at Kobar, a prison source said.

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Nearly 180 dead and 800 injured in Haftar’s assaults on Tripoli

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Libya’s government denounces attacks as barbaric and says evidence will be passed to ICC

Nearly 180 people have died as a result of General Khalifa Haftar’s assault on Tripoli, with at least four civilians killed in aerial bombardment on the Libyan capital overnight.

More than 800 have been wounded since the warlord who controls the east of the country began his attempt to seize the city from the UN-recognised government of national accord nearly a fortnight ago.

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Sudan’s military rulers sack more top officials after pressure from protesters

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Prosecutor general fired in latest concession by transitional council

Military rulers in Sudan have sacked a further slew of senior officials after pressure from protesters.

The move is the latest concession by the army-led transitional council, which took power last week following the fall of Omar al-Bashir after 30 years in power, and has since faced fierce pressure to rapidly give way to a civilian government.

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Egyptian parliament vote could keep Sisi in power until 2030

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MPs back longer presidential term of six years, while public opposition is suppressed

The Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, moved a step closer to extending his rule after lawmakers approved sweeping constitutional amendments that could enable him to remain in power until 2030.

The proposed changes lengthen presidential terms to six years instead of four, including Sisi’s current mandate. They also increase his control over the judiciary and confirm the military’s role in politics.

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Egypt referendum: No one believes this vote will be fair but we won’t be silenced

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President Sisi is playing cat and mouse with us, shutting down our websites and blocking our social media but we won’t give in

As the world watches the peaceful revolution that is changing Sudan in awe and amazement, it is clear that in Egypt, Sudan’s neighbour to the north, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi is getting nervous. On the same day as the protests in Khartoum reached a head, several of us who oppose Sisi’s autocratic rule launched an online petition to declare any result from Tuesday’s referendum on proposed constitutional amendments “void”.

Among the amendments Sisi is trying to force on the Egyptian people is a provision that could allow him to remain in power until 2030. The amendments would also increase the control of the military, which would be given powers to police the political sphere in Egypt. They would also give Sisi control over the appointment of judges and the public prosecutor.

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Fighting in Libya will create huge number of refugees, PM warns

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Fayez al-Sarraj says Khalifa Haftar’s attack on Tripoli ‘will spread its cancer through Mediterranean’

Hundreds of thousands of refugees could flee the fighting caused by Khalifa Haftar’s attempt to seize the Libyan capital, Tripoli, the prime minister of the country’s UN-recognised government has warned.

The warnings by Fayez al-Sarraj – who also claimed Haftar had betrayed the people of Libya – echo those given privately to the Italian government by its intelligence services, and are clearly designed to alert EU states to the possible consequences for European migration of a prolonged civil war in the country.

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‘We’re excluded from the table’: Somali UN staff say they struggle in ‘two-tier’ aid sector

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International organisations accused of ignoring local people’s knowledge and expertise and promoting foreigners to top jobs

When Sahra Koshin first returned to Somalia from the Netherlands in 2008, she was full of hope and courage.

Eager to use her expertise in gender development to rebuild her wartorn country, she immediately started work with one of the many UN agencies in Mogadishu.

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