Category Archives: Africa

Mauritius holds out on Chagos Islands deal over Diego Garcia lease

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UK government accused of ‘nitpicking about compensation’ after being told to pay more to retain military base

Mauritius is holding out over a deal to gain control of the Chagos Islands from the UK, leaving ministers less than a month to rescue the agreement.

The government in Mauritius, which took office last month, has made clear it is dissatisfied with the terms negotiated by the previous administration. Over the weekend the deputy prime minister accused the British government of “nitpicking about the compensation”.

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Russian cargo ship sinks in Mediterranean after explosion in engine room

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Two crew members from Ursa Major are missing and 14 have been rescued, Russian foreign ministry says

An engine room explosion sank a Russian cargo ship called Ursa Major in the Mediterranean Sea between Spain and Algeria and two of its crew are missing, the Russian foreign ministry has said.

The vessel, built in 2009, was controlled by Oboronlogistika, a company that is part of the Russian defence ministry’s military construction operations, which had previously said it was en route to the Russian far-eastern port of Vladivostok with two giant port cranes lashed to its deck.

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UAE becomes Africa’s biggest investor amid rights concerns

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Activists alarmed at emirati companies’ poor record on labour rights and fear projects may fail to address environmental concerns

The United Arab Emirates has become the largest backer of new business projects in Africa, raising hopes of a rush of much-needed money for green energy, but also concerns that the investments could compromise the rights of workers and environmental protections.

Between 2019 and 2023, Emirati companies announced $110bn (£88bn) of projects, $72bn of them in renewable energy, according to FT Locations, a data company owned by the Financial Times.

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Mozambique’s top court confirms election result after months of protest

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Opposition claimed ruling Frelimo party rigged 9 October vote, leading to months of civil unrest

Mozambique’s top court has confirmed the ruling party’s victory in October’s presidential elections, potentially triggering more protests after more than two months of unrest over allegations that the results were rigged.

Daniel Chapo, of the ruling Frelimo party, won the 9 October presidential election with 65.2% of the vote, Lúcia Ribeiro, the chair of Mozambique’s constitutional council, told a press conference on Monday.

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Namibia elects its first female president in disputed elections

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Vice-president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah avoids runoff vote, as win extends Swapo party’s 34-year hold on power

Namibia has elected its first female leader, with Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah declared the winner of last week’s presidential election in a result that will extend the ruling Swapo party’s 34-year hold on power.

Nandi-Ndaitwah, the current vice-president, won with 57% of the vote, according to official results, defying predictions that she might be forced into a runoff. Swapo has ruled the country since its independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990.

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Unknown disease kills 143 people in south-west DRC, local authorities say

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Infected people described as having flu-like symptoms including high fever and severe headaches

An unknown disease killed 143 people in a south-west province of Democratic Republic of the Congo in November, local authorities told Reuters.

Infected people had flu-like symptoms including high fever and severe headaches, Remy Saki, the deputy governor of Kwango province, and Apollinaire Yumba, the provincial minister of health, said on Monday.

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Joe Biden addresses America’s ‘original sin’ of slavery on Angola visit

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US president remembers ‘stolen men and women and children brought to our shores’ and lauds American investment in country

Joe Biden addressed America’s history of enslavement in a speech on Tuesday at Angola’s National Museum of Slavery, calling it “our nation’s original sin” during a trip in which he also lauded recent US investment in the region.

“We remember the stolen men and women and children who were brought to our shores in chains, subjected to unimaginable cruelty,” Biden said, as the sun set over the water behind him.

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Belgium found guilty of crimes against humanity in colonial Congo

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Court said five women were victims of ‘systematic kidnapping’ by state over forced removal from mothers as small children

The Belgian state has been found guilty of crimes against humanity for the forced removal of five mixed-race children from their mothers in colonial Congo.

In a long-awaited ruling issued on Monday, Belgium’s court of appeal said that five women, born in the Belgian Congo and now in their 70s, had been victims of “systematic kidnapping” by the state when they were removed from their mothers as small children and sent to Catholic institutions because of their mixed-race origins.

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At least 56 people killed in crush at Guinea football stadium

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Witnesses say people scrambled to escape after teargas used during pitch invasion at match in Nzérékoré

At least 56 people have died and dozens of others were injured in a crowd crush at a football stadium in southern Guinea, authorities in the west African state said.

The Stade du 3 Avril in Nzérékoré, the country’s second largest city, was hosting the final of a football tournament in honour of the leader of the country’s junta, Mamady Doumbouya, on Sunday afternoon. Local reports said thousands of spectators were present at the stadium and children were among the victims but did not give a definitive figure in either case.

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‘I’ve awakened their spirit’: can man behind the mask make a dent in Ghana elections?

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Nana Kwame Bediako is challenging the status quo with an unorthodox run for presidency appealing to younger voters

It was a bombastic statement from the man who wants to disrupt Ghana’s two-party political scene. “I’m here to represent Africa’s greatest hope,” Nana Kwame Bediako told an audience in a Palace of Westminster committee room in central London in October, referring to younger people on the continent.

After the event, a social media post by Bediako suggested the trip had involved a presentation in parliament itself, rather than an address to a committee room.

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Former Tesco boss wants to send power from Morocco to Great Britain using subsea cable

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Dave Lewis says the near-constant stream of clean electricity could supply the grid as early as 2030

In the south-west of Morocco, a sprawl of wind and solar farms stretching across an area the size of Greater London could soon generate the green electricity powering more than 9m British homes.

This is the unflinching vision of Sir Dave Lewis, the former Tesco boss who is hoping to build the world’s longest subsea power cable in order to harness north Africa’s renewable energy sources and power Britain’s clean energy agenda.

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Mauritian PM asks for independent review of Chagos Island deal with UK

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Recently elected PM Navin Ramgoolam tells parliament contents of negotiations ‘unknown’ to new government

The Mauritian prime minister has asked for an independent review of the Chagos Islands deal with the UK, according to parliamentary records.

According to the Mauritian parliament Hansard record, the new prime minister, Navin Ramgoolam, said during a session on Friday: “I wish to inform the house that I have asked for an independent review of the confidential draft agreement agreed so far.”

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At least 27 people dead and 100 missing after boat capsizes in Nigeria

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About 200 passengers, mostly women, were on vessel that sunk in Niger River

At least 27 people have died and more than 100 are missing after a boat capsized in northern Nigeria, authorities have said.

About 200 passengers were on the boat that was going from the state of Kogi to neighbouring state of Niger when it capsized on the Niger River, the Niger state emergency management agency spokesperson, Ibrahim Audu, told the Associated Press.

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Mysterious mass elephant die-off ‘probably caused by toxic water’

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Satellite data analysis suggests climate-induced algal blooms could be behind hundreds of deaths in Botswana that sparked flurry of theories in 2020

More than 350 elephants that died in mysterious circumstances probably drank toxic water, according to a new paper that warns of an “alarming trend” in climate-induced poisoning.

The deaths in Botswana’s Okavango delta were described by scientists as a “conservation disaster”. Elephants of all ages were seen walking in circles before collapsing and dying. Carcasses were first spotted in north-eastern Botswana in May and June 2020, with many theories circulating about the cause of death, including cyanide poisoning or an unknown disease.

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Footprints in Kenya ‘show distant relatives of modern humans coexisted’

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Researchers say fossilised marks were apparently made in same place within days of each other about 1.5m years ago

About 1.5m years ago a big-toothed cousin of prehistoric humans walked quickly along a lakeside in Kenya, footprints marking the muddy ground. But they were not our only distant relative on the scene: treading the same ground was the early human Homo erectus.

Researchers say an analysis of fossilised footprints discovered in deposits of the Turkana Basin, northern Kenya, suggest the marks were made by two different species on the human family tree who were in the same place within hours or days of each other.

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Military vehicle mows down woman as post-election protests roil Mozambique

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Woman sustains head injuries in incident in capital and police kill two protesters in northern city

A military vehicle mowed down a woman in the Mozambican capital, Maputo, as protests have gripped the southern African country weeks after an election that the opposition said was rigged.

Videos of the incident on Wednesday that have been widely shared on social media showed an armoured vehicle speeding down a busy street into a makeshift wooden barricade attended by protesters and then driving over the woman.

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British mother of Egyptian political prisoner to press Lammy to take action

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Laila Soueif is to meet the foreign secretary, who in opposition called for the release of Alaa Abd el-Fattah

The British-born mother of an Egyptian political prisoner who has been on hunger strike for 58 days is preparing to meet the foreign secretary, David Lammy, to urge him to secure her son’s release.

Laila Soueif’s son Alaa Abd el-Fattah, a British and Egyptian dual citizen who wrote eloquently about the Arab spring and its aftermath, was jailed for five years for “spreading false news”. He was due to be released in September, but has not been freed.

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Namibia goes to polls amid anger at high unemployment rate

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Swapo party could lose its majority for the first time since independence in 1990, if youth voter turnout is high

Namibians are going to the polls with the longtime ruling party’s parliamentary majority under threat if dissatisfied young people turn out in big numbers amid a wave of anti-incumbent sentiment globally.

The Swapo party could also be forced to contest a second round in the presidential election for the first time since the sparsely populated southern African country became independent from South Africa in 1990.

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Catholic priest accused of sexual assault fathered children of victims, court hears

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Revelation emerges at hearing for Anthony Odiong, 55, charged with several counts and held in Texas on $5.5m bail

A Roman Catholic priest with links to Texas and Louisiana who is facing criminal charges for allegedly abusing his position of authority within the church to pursue sex with vulnerable women fathered at least two children with victims of his behavior, authorities have alleged.

The stunning information about Anthony Odiong surfaced at a bail hearing on Tuesday in Waco, Texas, where prosecutors have charged him with several counts of sexually assaulting women to whom he ministered.

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Four bodies recovered from Red Sea day after tourist boat capsizes

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Five more rescued and seven still missing from the Sea Story, which was carrying 30 tourists and 14 crew

Egyptian naval forces recovered four bodies and rescued five more people from the Red Sea a day after a large tourist boat sank in rough waters, officials have said. Seven people are still missing.

The Red Sea governor, Amr Hanafi, said the yacht, called Sea Story, had been struck by high waves on Monday and sank in less than 7 minutes.

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