Category Archives: Africa

Demonstrators in Nigeria gather days early for anti-government protests

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Crowds converge on Suleja over economic hardship and record inflation amid warnings against mass action

Hundreds of protesters have gathered in central Nigeria days before planned national demonstrations over economic hardship and record inflation.

The protesters, many of them young people, converged in the town of Suleja, 3o miles outside the federal capital, Abuja, with placards criticising the government’s policies. Week-long nationwide protests had been due to begin on Wednesday.

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South Africa’s ANC expels ex-president Zuma for leading rival party in election

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Jacob Zuma backed MK party, which African National Congress said cost it its parliamentary majority

South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma has been expelled by the African National Congress after he backed a rival political party that helped cost the ANC its parliamentary majority in recent national elections.

“Former president Jacob Zuma has actively impugned the integrity of the ANC and campaigned to dislodge the ANC from power, while claiming that he had not severed his membership,” the party said in a statement on Monday.

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Girls as young as nine gang-raped by paramilitaries in Sudan – report

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Human Rights Watch accuses RSF militia of ‘countless’ cases of rape and torture in Khartoum in 15-month civil war

Gunmen from a notorious militia roamed Sudan’s capital gang-raping “countless” women and girls, some as young as nine, according to an investigation documenting the shocking prevalence of sexual violence in Khartoum during the country’s civil war.

Some of the attacks by members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) were so brutal that women and girls died “due to the violence associated with the act of rape”, according to the research by Human Rights Watch (HRW).

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‘She is one of our heroines’: reviled, now revered, Winnie Mandela wins over young South Africa

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The legacy of the activist, ANC politician and wife of Nelson Mandela has growing appeal, despite her refusal to apologise for crimes

As votes from South Africa’s elections were being counted last month, a senior African National Congress politician, Nomvula Mokonyane, held court wearing a yellow long-sleeved top with the face of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela emblazoned on the back.

Across the room at the national vote counting centre, far left Economic Freedom Fighters official Poppy Mailola wore a black T-shirt with an image of Winnie plastered across repetitions of her name.

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Green economy could generate 3.3m jobs across Africa by 2030 – report

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Policymakers and funders are being urged to invest in training a workforce to serve the industries of the future

A greener economy could bring millions of jobs to some of the largest countries in Africa, according to a new report.

Research by the development agency FSD Africa and the impact advisory firm Shortlist predicts that 3.3 million jobs could be generated across the continent by 2030.

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Doctor behind trial of HIV prevention drug recounts breakthrough moment

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Prof Linda-Gail Bekker receives ovation at Aids summit after presenting trial results of ‘miracle’ drug lenacapavir

When the doctor behind the trial of a new HIV prevention drug heard the results, she could not contain her emotions. “I literally burst into tears,” said Prof Linda-Gail Bekker.

“I’m 62, I’ve lived through this epidemic … I had family members who died of HIV, as did many, many Africans – many people around the world,” she said.

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Death toll from Ethiopia landslides could reach 500, UN agency says

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Mudslide in Gofa zone on Monday traps people rescuing victims from a slide the previous day

The death toll from landslides that hit south-western Ethiopia on Sunday and Monday has risen to 257 and could reach 500, the UN’s office for humanitarian affairs (OCHA) says.

Heavy rains in the mountainous Gofa zone caused a landslide on Sunday night, followed by a second on Monday morning that trapped people who were rescuing victims of the first.

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‘Smoking gun’ evidence points to UAE involvement in Sudan civil war

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Exclusive: Discovery of Emirati passports in wreckage suggest covert boots on the ground, despite Gulf state’s denials

Passports recovered from battlefields in Sudan suggest the United Arab Emirates is covertly putting boots on the ground in the country’s devastating civil war, according to leaked documents.

A 41-page document, sent to the UN security council and seen by the Guardian, contains images of Emirati passports allegedly found in Sudan and linked to soldiers of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the African nation’s notorious paramilitary.

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At least 150 people missing after boat capsizes off coast of Mauritania

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Boat full of people hoping to get to Europe overturns and at least 15 known to have died, UN migration agency says

At least 15 people have died and more than 150 are missing after a boat full of people hoping to make it to Europe capsized off the coast of Mauritania, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

About 300 people had boarded the long, wooden, fishing vessel in The Gambia, roughly 850 miles (1,350km) to the south, spending seven days at sea before the boat overturned on Monday, the agency said in a statement.

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Africa to overtake Asia with highest number of hungry people by 2030, says UN

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Annual report says climate crisis, conflict and economic shocks leave the global food system ‘disastrously vulnerable’

Africa will overtake Asia as the continent with the highest number of people experiencing hunger in the world by 2030, the UN has predicted.

In its annual state of food security and nutrition report, five UN agencies said there was a “clear trend” of rising prevalence of undernourishment in Africa.

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At least 229 people dead in Ethiopia after heavy rain causes mudslides

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Officials say death toll could rise further as people use shovels and bare hands to search for survivors

At least 229 people have died in mudslides after heavy rain in south-western Ethiopia, in the deadliest such disaster recorded in the Horn of Africa country.

Officials in Kencho Shacha Gozdi district on Tuesday warned that the death toll could rise further as local people used shovels and their bare hands to search for survivors.

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Scores arrested in Uganda at banned rally inspired by Kenya protests

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Police in Kampala stop and detain anti-corruption demonstrators after earlier round-up of opposition MPs

Scores of demonstrators have been arrested in the Uganda capital, Kampala, for taking part in a banned rally that has drawn inspiration from the youth-led anti-government protests that have roiled neighbouring Kenya for a month now.

Police stopped and detained people from among small groups of protesters who were marching and shouting anti-corruption slogans in different parts of the city.

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Suppliers to top essential oil brand left unpaid and afraid after abuse inquiry

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Women who sorted frankincense told to change their story ‘or face consequences’ in doTERRA’s investigation

An investigation into the abuse of women working to supply frankincense to a leading US essential oils brand built on ethical sourcing has left workers unpaid and frightened, with some saying they were told to change their stories “or face the consequences”.

Last year doTERRA, which sells essential oils and other wellness products to a mostly female customer base, launched an investigation into its frankincense supplier in Somaliland after reporting by the Fuller Project uncovered allegations of serious abuses, including sexual harassment and assault. Many women hired as frankincense sorters said they were routinely underpaid and faced harsh working conditions that had impacted their health.

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Most new HIV infections occurred outside sub-Saharan Africa for first time – UN report

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African countries hailed for achievements, but UNAids says cases on the rise in other areas of the world

The majority of new HIV infections last year occurred in countries outside sub-Saharan Africa for the first time.

African countries have made swift progress in tackling the virus, with the number of infections in sub-Saharan Africa 56% lower than in 2010, a new report from UNAids said. Globally, infections have fallen by 39% over the same period.

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Women in war-torn Sudanese city forced to have sex in exchange for food

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Victims tell Guardian about widespread practice in war-torn Omdurman

Women struggling to survive in the war-torn Sudanese city of Omdurman say they are being forced to have sex with soldiers in exchange for food.

More than two dozen women who have been unable to flee fighting in Omdurman said that sexual intercourse with men from the Sudanese army was the only way they could access food or goods that they could sell to raise money to feed their families.

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Thursday briefing: How one controversial bill has Kenya on the brink of disorder

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In today’s newsletter: President William Ruto’s unpopular finance bill has sparked a wave of protests – that have been met with brutality and yet more discord in the country

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Good morning.

Anti-government protests are expected to escalate in Kenya after a month of demonstrations that erupted again across the country on Tuesday calling for the president, William Ruto, to resign. In response to police hostility, protesters set fires, threw stones and chanted “Ruto must go” and “Stop killing us”. The demonstrations were met with police firing teargas and water cannon at those involved and the press. One man was shot dead and his body carried through the streets to a nearby police station.

King’s speech | Keir Starmer has set out a government agenda that he claims can counter the “snake oil charm of populism” in a king’s speech pledging change to people’s lives including rights at work, cheaper energy and secure housing.

Israel-Gaza war | The US military-built pier for carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza will be dismantled and brought home, ending a mission that has been fraught with repeated weather and security problems that limited how much food and other supplies could get to starving Palestinians.

Europe | Labour’s proposed foreign policy and security pact with the EU sounds “quite promising”, the head of the European parliament’s foreign affairs committee has said, adding that the British government should use the next weeks and months to come up with proposals that are “as concrete as possible”.

US election 2024 | JD Vance formally accepted the Republican vice-presidential nomination on Wednesday with a deliberate, and at times divisive, pitch to re-elect Donald Trump in November.

Environment | The Labour government must oversee a massive ramping up of renewable energy generation in this parliament or the UK will breach its international obligations under the Paris agreement, the government’s climate watchdog has said.

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‘People think they’ll smell but they don’t’: building homes from mushroom waste and weeds

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A sustainable project aims to repurpose encroacher bush to create building blocks to solve Namibia’s housing crisis

“People think the house would smell because the blocks are made of all-natural products, but it doesn’t smell,” says Kristine Haukongo. “Sometimes, there is a small touch of wood, but otherwise it’s completely odourless.”

Haukongo is the senior cultivator at the research group MycoHab and her job is pretty unusual. She grows oyster mushrooms on chopped-down invasive weeds before the waste is turned into large, solid brown slabs – mycoblocks – that will be used, it’s hoped, to build Namibian homes.

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Support for democracy in Africa falls amid military coups and corruption

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Africans still have stronger preference for democratic governance than many other parts of the world

Support for democracy is falling in Africa amid a string of military coups and dissatisfaction with corruption and mismanagement, according to a report by Afrobarometer. However, Africans still have a stronger preference for democratic governance than many parts of the world.

Two-thirds of people in 30 African countries prefer democracy, surveys conducted in 2021 or 2023 found, down seven percentage points from a decade earlier.

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Rwanda’s Paul Kagame cruises to crushing election victory

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President wins 99.15% of the vote, allowing him to extend authoritarian rule by further five years

Rwanda’s president, Paul Kagame, has swept to another overwhelming election victory, winning more than 99% of votes in a provisional count in the east African country’s elections that will extend his near quarter of a century in power.

The poll on Monday was seen as a formality, with just two other candidates allowed to compete in a country that is kept under tight control by its longtime leader.

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Kidnappings soar in central Africa’s ‘triangle of death’

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Where Chad, Cameroon and the Central African Republic meet, people are turning vigilante to fight back

Tired of waiting for the authorities to come to their aid, young men in the Mayo-Kebbi Ouest region of south-west Chad are banding into vigilante groups, using bows, arrows and spears to fight gunmen who have turned kidnapping into a professional pastime.

“We guide the gendarmes in the bush, but we are also the first to go after the criminals after a kidnapping,” said Amos Nangyo, head of one of the units in Pala, capital of the region, which borders Cameroon, told Agence France-Presse earlier this month.

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