Category Archives: Africa

As Ebola kills in Africa, in the west lies over vaccines beguile the complacent | Mark Honigsbaum

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The epidemic in the DRC has been impossible to contain because of the spread of anti-vax myths

With the possible exception of quinine, for centuries the only treatment for malaria, and antibiotics, vaccines have saved more lives than any other intervention in medical history. Yet, from New York’s Brooklyn to Camden in north London to Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, vaccines are in retreat, shunned by populations who seemingly have little sense of the risks they are running with their own or other people’s lives.

Why this should be so is one of the conundrums of our age. Is it all the fault of social media and anti-vax propaganda that has taken root on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube? Or has society grown complacent about the risks that infectious diseases posed to previous generations, when it was common for children to be paralysed by polio or rendered deaf or brain-damaged by measles?

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Rape and abuse: the price of a job in Spain’s strawberry industry?

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Ten Moroccan women say Spanish authorities have ignored claims they were trafficked, assaulted and exploited

Last April, Samira Ahmad* kissed her baby goodbye and boarded a bus, leaving her home in Morocco for the strawberry fields of southern Spain.In her bag was her Spanish visa and a contract that promised €40 a day plus food and accommodation. In the three months she’d be away, she hoped the pain of being separated from her family would be softened by the money she’d be sending back to them – a fortune compared to what she’d be able to earn at home.

A year on, and Ahmad’s life is in ruins. She is destitute, divorced and for the past 10 months has been living in hiding, surviving on handouts with nine other Moroccan women who – like her – claim they faced human trafficking, sexual assault and exploitation on the farm where they were hired to work. She says her biggest mistake – other than coming to Spain – was going to the authorities.

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North Africa faces a test: revolutions rarely end happily

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Sudan and Algeria have ousted unpopular leaders. But can these countries resist the trend towards authoritarian rule?

Pete Townshend may not appear, at first glance, to be connected to the tumultuous events in Sudan. But it was the Who’s lead guitarist who famously celebrated popular insurrection in the 1971 hit, Won’t Get Fooled Again, whose lyrics he wrote. Here’s how a bit of it goes: “I’ll tip my hat to the new constitution/ Take a bow for the new revolution... Then I’ll get on my knees and pray/ We don’t get fooled again.”

After inducing the army to oust Omar al-Bashir, Sudan’s unpopular president, well-organised opponents of the military regime, evidently no fools, are not trusting solely to prayer. On Friday, they forced the resignation of the coup leader, Awad Ibn Auf. Now they wait, camped on the streets, to see if his replacement – another general, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan – can satisfy their insistence on civilian-led government.

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Cyclone Idai caused $2bn of damage and affected millions, says World Bank

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Global lender says the cyclone affected about 3 million people, damaging infrastructure and livelihoods

A strong cyclone that cut a deadly swath through Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe last month is expected to cost the three countries more than $2bn, the World Bank has said.

Early estimates pointed to Cyclone Idai costing $2bn “for the infrastructure and livelihood impacts,” the World Bank said in a statement after a meeting in Washington on Thursday.

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Protesters celebrate as Sudan’s spy chief quits

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Salih Ghosh, who led protests crackdown, resigns a day after interim leader stepped down

The protest movement in Sudan has won a series of fresh victories, with the country’s powerful military moving to replace the controversial transitional leader and spy chief following street rallies demanding officials linked to the former regime stand down.

Salih Ghosh, who led a sweeping crackdown against demonstrators over recent months, resigned on Saturday, a communique from the new military-led transitional council said.

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‘No more old men in uniform’: on the ground with Sudan’s protesters

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Public defiance crosses religious divides as protesters in Khartoum sustain united call for military to relinquish power

In front of the military headquarters in Khartoum, where protesters have refused to leave following the ousting of president Omar al-Bashir, came an extraordinary show of support.

In stifling heat, a group of Coptic Christians – a minority and persecuted group in Sudan – set up shelters to allow their fellow Muslim protesters to pray away from the glare of the Friday morning sun, and without leaving the spot they’ve occupied since Saturday.

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Man facing deportation from Britain to DRC wins another reprieve

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Habib Bazaboko, who has lived in the UK since childhood, was due to fly on Friday

A judge has halted the removal of a man who has lived in the UK since childhood just hours before he was due to be deported to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a country with one of the worst human rights records in the world. It is the second time he has been within hours of deportation within a week.

Habib Bazaboko, 39, a stonemason, fled to the UK at the age of 11 after his father was murdered in his home country. He witnessed the murder and was left deeply traumatised.

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Sudan protesters demand military hands over power at once

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New military rulers say they plan to give power to civilian government in two years

A pledge by Sudan’s ruling military council to hand over power to a civilian government has been rejected by the country’s main protest group, which said the army was “not capable of creating change”.

In a press conference broadcast on state television, Omar Zein Abideen, a senior army officer and member of the military council, said Sudan’s new rulers had no ambition to hold on to power and had intervened to remove President Omar al-Bashir on Thursday in response to the wishes of the people.

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Mandela’s sketch of his Robben Island cell door to be sold at auction

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Drawing is one of 22 works made in 2002 as therapeutic activity about his incarceration

Of all the sketches he made about his 27-year incarceration, this was the one Nelson Mandela wanted to keep. A depiction of his Robben Island cell door with a key in it – a powerful symbol of hope and resilience.

Now the previously unseen drawing – one of 22 sketches Mandela made in 2002 as therapeutic activity – is to be sold, according to the auction house Bonhams.

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Emergency panel meets as Congo Ebola outbreak gathers pace

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Faltering national response to epidemic prompts experts to consider official announcement of public health crisis

Experts will convene for an emergency meeting on Friday to determine whether the recent escalation of Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo should be declared a global health crisis.

More than eight months into the epidemic, which has killed 751 people, agencies warned the disease is still not under control. The response to the outbreak has been complicated by conflict, political instability, and distrust of Ebola services.

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Mood in Sudan shifts to anger as the army prepares to seize power

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Demonstrators in Khartoum insist a civilian government must replace Omar al-Bashir

As rumours spread that their long-time ruler was finally on his way out, the atmosphere on the streets of Khartoum was victorious.

“The regime has fallen,” people chanted. Flags waved, people danced and sang, and everyone’s hands were up in victory signs. “Freedom, peace and justice,” read one banner. On Wednesday morning, it seemed that the long-fought battle for these values might be on the point of being won.

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What’s happening in Sudan? – video explainer

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After a 30-year rule Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, has been ousted from power by the military. The move is the culmination of months of protests, which led to activists occupying a crossroads in the centre of Khartoum for five days. However, thousands of people continued to pack the streets on Thursday afternoon, as protest organisers rejected the army’s announcement that Bashir would be replaced by a military-led transitional council

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Sudan’s defence minister announces state of emergency after arrest of President Bashir – video

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On Thursday Omar al-Bashir, who ruled Sudan in autocratic style for 30 years, was overthrown and arrested in a coup by the armed forces, said Sudan's defence minister, Ahmed Awad Ibn Auf, in a televised address. He also announced a two-year period of military rule to be followed by presidential elections.

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Sudan’s army removes President Bashir after 30 years in power

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President arrested after months of protests that escalated with mass sit-in on Saturday

Sudan’s army has removed President Omar al-Bashir from power after 30 years, following months of protests that escalated at the weekend when demonstrators began a sit-in outside the defence ministry compound in central Khartoum.

Bashir had been arrested “in a safe place”, the Sudanese defence minster and army general Ahmed Awad Ibn Auf said in a statement broadcast on state media. A military council will take control of the country for two years, after which elections would be held, Ibn Auf added.

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Europe split over how to respond to Haftar assault on Tripoli

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France blocked draft EU resolution condemning warlord and calling for his retreat from Libyan capital

European divisions over how to respond to General Khalifa Haftar’s violent assault on the Libyan capital, Tripoli, have been exposed after France blocked a draft EU resolution that would have condemned him and called for him to retreat.

France, a supporter of the warlord over the past two years, blocked the draft despite new UN figures showing 56 reported dead, hundreds injured and more than 6,000 displaced by the fighting.

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Zambians can pursue mining pollution claim in English courts

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Villagers say mine run by subsidiary of UK-based firm has caused illness and deaths

Two thousand Zambian villagers who say their lives have been ruined by toxic runoff from the world’s second-largest opencast mine have won the right to pursue a claim through the English courts.

In a landmark judgment, the supreme court ruled that the mining conglomerate Vedanta Resources, which is based in London, and its Zambian subsidiary Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) can be held to account by English judges, despite the companies’ arguments that they should defend themselves in Zambia.

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Poorest countries bear the brunt as aid levels fall for second successive year

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Experts warn of ‘step backwards’ in fight against global poverty as latest figures show 3% drop in aid to most vulnerable states

Experts have warned that the fight against global poverty has taken a backward step after the publication of new figures showing foreign aid has fallen for a second successive year.

Aid levels dropped last year by 2.7% from 2017, with the poorest countries worst hit, according to figures published by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

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‘I was raised to love our home’: Sudan’s singing protester speaks out

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Alaa Salah, 22, talks to the Guardian about having her image seen around the world

The young woman in a photo that has come to symbolise the protest movement in Sudan has been identified as Alaa Salah, a 22-year-old architecture student in Khartoum.

Salah told the Guardian she was happy that the image, taken on Monday evening at a demonstration in the Sudanese capital, had been viewed so widely.

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