Category Archives: Africa

Major human rights violations at Del Monte farm in Kenya, report finds

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Exclusive: summary sent to UK supermarkets describes conflict between pineapple thieves and Del Monte security staff

Major human rights violations are being committed at a vast Del Monte pineapple farm in Kenya where there have been numerous deaths and violence, according to the conclusions of an unpublished report.

The findings, seen by the Guardian, are highly critical of Del Monte Kenya and include claims that the company’s employees are working with a cartel of thieves, providing them with intelligence. The report says the farm has serious problems with organised pineapple theft, losing crops to gangs at a large scale.

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‘No gree for anybody’ slang could be message of rebellion, Nigerian police claim

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Pidgin English term triggers debate after going viral in new year as a motto for self-reliance and resilience

A Nigerian slang term meaning not letting anyone bully or cheat you is sparking debate after police warned the slogan could be a message of rebellion.

While not new, the pidgin English term “No gree for anybody”, and variations of it, has been going viral since the start of the year as a motto for self-reliance and resilience in the face of difficulties.

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Up to 70 Tory rebels could abstain or back amendments to Rwanda bill

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Lee Anderson could be one of ‘six Conservatives on the payroll’ ready to support the amendments

Conservative rebels have said as many as 70 MPs could back amendments or abstain from supporting Rishi Sunak’s flagship Rwanda bill, telling the prime minister he will have “nowhere to go” if he does not toughen up the legislation.

A leading figure on the right wing of the party said at least three junior ministers and six Tories on the payroll, including a vice-chair of the party, had already informed the whips they were “sympathetic” to the amendments.

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‘We are ready for a war’: Somalia threatens conflict with Ethiopia over breakaway region

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Somaliland hoped to be recognised as a country after port deal with landlocked Ethiopia - but move has sparked fury in Somalia

Somalia is prepared to go to war to stop Ethiopia recognising the breakaway territory of Somaliland and building a port there, a senior adviser to Somalia’s president has said.

A memorandum of understanding signed on 1 January allowing landlocked Ethiopia to develop a naval base on Somaliland’s coast has rattled the Horn of Africa, one of the world’s most volatile regions.

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Cholera cases soar globally amid shortage of vaccines

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Resurgence classified as grade 3 emergency by WHO, with southern Africa and Haiti among those hardest hit

Cholera cases soared last year, according to preliminary data from the World Health Organization, which recorded 4,000 cholera deaths and 667,000 cases globally.

The numbers surpassed that of 2022, and the WHO has classified the global resurgence of cholera as a grade 3 emergency, its highest internal health emergency level.

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Israel accuses South Africa of ‘profound distortion’ at ICJ genocide hearing

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Israeli legal team calls South African accusation of genocidal acts in Gaza ‘a partial and deeply flawed picture’

Israel has accused South Africa of presenting a “profoundly distorted” view of hostilities, “barely distinguishable” from that of Hamas, as it presented its defence at the international court of justice in The Hague against accusations of genocide.

A day after South Africa argued that it had committed genocidal acts in Gaza with intent from “the highest levels of state”, Israel said on Friday that was a “partial and deeply flawed picture”.

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Cape Verde becomes fourth African country to eliminate malaria

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With no recorded cases since 2017, the archipelago has had a long journey to become free of the disease, which killed 608,000 people globally in 2022

Cape Verde has become the fourth country in Africa and the 44th in the world to eliminate malaria.

Africa has the highest number of cases of the mosquito-borne disease in the world. In 2022, 94% of the 249 million cases globally and 95% of deaths were recorded on the continent.

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UK government admits Rwanda has ‘issues with its human rights record’

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Assessment comes despite claims by Rishi Sunak that Rwanda is safe when making case for asylum policy

The government has admitted that Rwanda still has “issues with its human rights record” despite claims by Rishi Sunak that it is a safe country.

Documents released on Thursday said that “while Rwanda is now a relatively peaceful country with respect for the rule of law, there are nevertheless issues with its human rights record around political opposition to the current regime, dissent and free speech”.

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Human rights in decline globally as leaders fail to uphold laws, report warns

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Human Rights Watch’s annual report highlights politicians’ double standards and ‘transactional diplomacy’ amid escalating crises

Human rights across the world are in a parlous state as leaders shun their obligations to uphold international law, according to the annual report of Human Rights Watch (HRW).

In its 2024 world report, HRW warns grimly of escalating human rights crises around the globe, with wartime atrocities increasing, suppression of human rights defenders on the rise, and universal human rights principles and laws being attacked and undermined by governments.

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The Gambia team make emergency landing on way to Africa Cup of Nations

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  • Loss of cabin pressure and oxygen to blame, says Gambian FA
  • Saidy Janko: ‘The consequences could have been a lot worse’

The Gambia’s coach, Tom Saintfiet, said he and his players feared for their lives after the plane taking them to the Africa Cup of Nations made an emergency landing, delaying their arrival at the tournament in the Ivory Coast.

The Gambia squad set off from Banjul on Wednesday for the short trip to Yamoussoukro, where they will play their opening two group games, but minutes after take-off they turned around because of a lack of oxygen inside the plane, he said, adding: “Luckily for us, the pilot recognised the problem and after nine minutes in the air turned around to land again. We all fell asleep.”

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Hearings to begin at The Hague in case claiming Israel’s Gaza war is genocide

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International Court of Justice will hear complaint brought by South Africa, which is asking for urgent ‘provisional measures’

A legal hearing into the war in Gaza opens in The Hague on Thursday as the international court of justice (ICJ) hears arguments alleging that Israel is committing genocide in the territory.

South Africa, which has brought the case, is asking the UN court to act urgently “to protect against further, severe and irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people under the genocide convention, which continues to be violated with impunity”.

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Somalian rebels kill one and abduct five after UN helicopter’s emergency landing

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Al-Shabaab fighters attack after aircraft carrying medical professionals and soldiers lands in their territory

Al-Shabaab fighters in Somalia have attacked a United Nations helicopter that made an emergency landing in rebel-held territory, killing one passenger and abducting five others.

The minister of internal security of Galmudug state in central Somalia, Mohamed Abdi Aden Gaboobe, said the helicopter made the landing in Xindheere village on Wednesday after engine failure.

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Police on alert for potential violence at Eritrean festival in Melbourne

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Supporters of the African nation’s dictatorial regime have clashed with opponents in the diaspora at similar events in other countries

Australian federal police and government officials have met representatives of the Eritrean community in a bid to avoid potential violence during a planned cultural festival in Melbourne’s western suburbs this weekend.

Similar events held in Europe and North America in recent months have ended in violence and arrests, as supporters of the African nation’s regime clashed with members of the pro-democracy youth movement Birged Nhamedu.

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Labour to table vote calling for release of Rwanda deportation plan documents

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Party to ask for details of individual relocation costs and any payments to the Rwandan government

Labour will table a vote in parliament on Tuesday calling for the release of documents relating to the UK government’s Rwanda deportation policy amid claims from Conservative centrists that Rishi Sunak has promised to uphold international treaties.

The vote, which will be part of a humble address on the opposition day debate in the Commons, will ask for any documents that show the cost of relocating each individual asylum seeker to Rwanda as well as a list of all payments made or scheduled to be made to Rwanda’s government.

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Fashion firms agree to compensate garment workers in Mauritius

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Calvin Klein, Hilfiger and Barbour among brands to pay £400,000 after report alleges illegal hiring fees, deception and intimidation

Leading fashion brands including Barbour and PVH, which owns Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, have said they will pay £400,000 to garment workers in Mauritius after an investigation found that migrant workers were forced to pay thousands of pounds for their jobs.

Transparentem, a US-based organisation that investigates workers’ rights, looked into conditions at five factories in Mauritius and interviewed 83 workers in 2022 and 2023.

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Gambian ex-minister on trial in Switzerland for crimes against humanity

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Ousman Sonko is accused of supporting repressive policies and was arrested in Bern in 2017 after applying for asylum

A former Gambian minister has become the highest-ranking official to be tried in Europe under the principles of universal jurisdiction after his trial on charges of crimes against humanity opened in Switzerland.

Ousman Sonko, interior minister under the west African country’s ousted dictator Yahya Jammeh, was arrested in Bern in 2017 after applying for asylum in Switzerland.

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Palestinians desperate to flee Gaza pay thousands in bribes to ‘brokers’

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Fixers with alleged links to Egyptian intelligence are making a fortune in ‘fees’ from people hoping to exit through the Rafah crossing

Palestinians desperate to leave Gaza are paying bribes to brokers of up to $10,000 (£7,850) to help them exit the territory through Egypt, according to a Guardian investigation.

Very few Palestinians have been able to leave Gaza through the Rafah border crossing but those trying to get their names on the list of people permitted to exit daily say they are being asked to pay large “coordination fees” by a network of brokers and couriers with alleged links to the Egyptian intelligence services.

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Chef in Ghana aims to break world record with 120-hour cookathon

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Failatu Abdul-Razak is being cheered on and widely celebrated in west African country

A chef in Ghana has been preparing regional dishes on live TV since New Year’s Day in an attempt to break a world record for marathon cooking.

Failatu Abdul-Razak had cooked for more than 110 hours as of Friday afternoon at a hotel in the northern city of Tamale where she is aiming to break the Guinness world record for a cookathon of 119 hours and 57 minutes held by the Irish chef Alan Fisher.

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African elephant populations stabilise in southern heartlands

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Scientist say animals still need protecting and also connecting to restore habitats fragmented by human activities

African elephant populations have stabilised in their southern heartlands after huge losses over the last century, according to the most comprehensive analysis of growth rates to date.

The latest analysis also provides the strongest data so far showing that protected areas that are connected to other places are far better than isolated “fortress” parks at maintaining stable populations, by allowing the elephants to migrate back and forth between areas as they did naturally in the past.

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Reeva Steenkamp’s mother says ‘family serving life sentence’ as Oscar Pistorius freed on parole

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Former South African Paralympic and Olympic athlete released after serving nine years for murder of model in 2013

Reeva Steenkamp’s mother, June, has said the family “are the ones serving a life sentence” after Oscar Pistorius was released from prison on parole.

Pistorius left prison on Friday in the South African capital, Pretoria, after serving nine years for murdering Steenkamp, who was his girlfriend, in a crime that shocked the world.

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