Category Archives: Africa

King Charles stops short of apology for ‘abhorrent’ colonial violence in Kenya

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Visiting monarch speaks of sorrow and deepest regret for past ‘wrongdoings’ under British rule

King Charles has spoken of Britain’s “abhorrent and unjustifiable acts of violence” committed against Kenyans during their fight for independence, but stopped short of an apology despite human rights groups demanding one.

The monarch made the comments in a speech, delivered during a banquet in Kenya held in his honour, in which he referred to the “greatest sorrow” and “deepest regret” for the “wrongdoings” of the past.

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French couple take dealer to court for share of African mask’s €4.2m sale price

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Pensioners sold rare object found in attic for €150 – but campaigners say it must be returned to Gabon

A retired French couple who sold an African mask to a secondhand goods dealer for €150 (£130) have gone to court for a share of the proceeds after the mask fetched €4.2m (£3.7m) at auction.

But campaigners insist that the rare artefact instead should be returned to Gabon, in a case that has raised questions over Africa’s cultural heritage looted by colonial France.

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King Charles asked for ‘unequivocal apology’ by Kenya’s rights commission

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King urged to offer apology while in Kenya for UK’s ‘brutal and inhuman treatment’ during the Mau Mau uprising in the 1950s

The Kenya Human Rights Commission has called on King Charles to offer an “unequivocal public apology” for colonial abuses, during his visit to the country this week.

“We call upon the king, on behalf of the British government, to issue an unconditional and unequivocal public apology (as opposed to the very cautious, self-preserving and protective statements of regrets) for the brutal and inhuman treatment inflicted on Kenyan citizens,” the KHRC said.

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Kenya to scrap visas for all African nationals

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President William Ruto says change aims to boost trade and allow goods, services, people and ideas to move freely across continent

Visas to visit Kenya are to be scrapped for other African nationals from next year as part of a movement towards opening up trade and travel within the continent.

“By the end of this year, no African will be required to have a visa to come to Kenya,” Kenya’s president, William Ruto, said at a climate change conference in Congo-Brazzaville.

Costly and time-consuming visa requirements, as well as high air fares, have long created barriers to inter-African travel for African passport holders; 32 out of 54 African countries still require the nationals of half or more countries on the continent to obtain a visa.

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UK accused of plan to further cut cost of bananas at expense of poorest African producers

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UK refusing to commit to EU pledge to stop cutting tariffs on big producers despite bananas being as cheap today as three decades ago

It is one of the few British supermarket staples to have bucked the trend during the cost of living crisis, with the price of a bunch of bananas today no more expensive today than three decades ago. Every country in the world with cheaper prices than the UK has its own producers of the fruit.

The government has now been accused of pursuing an irresponsible post-Brexit policy that could reduce the price of bananas further in the shops – but at the cost of the livelihoods of thousands of workers on small plantations in some of Africa’s poorest countries.

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Sudanese paramilitary group says it has seized country’s second-largest city

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Claim by Rapid Support Forces to have taken the trade hub of Nyala could mark a turning point in the war

The paramilitaries fighting Sudan’s army say they have seized control of Nyala, the country’s second-largest city outside the Khartoum area, in a potential turning point in the six-month war.

The Rapid Support Forces said in a statement they had taken over the army’s main headquarters in the city, which is the capital of South Darfur state, and seized all of its equipment. The RSF published video, which Reuters could not verify, of their soldiers celebrating with gunfire, claiming to have overrun the base.

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Girls in Africa quitting school over cost of living crisis, says charity

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Camfed calls for six-year plan to get 6 million girls into school, warning that drop-out rate is limiting children’s chances

Governments and donors need to redouble efforts to encourage girls back to school across Africa after the cost of living crisis pushed many to spurn education for low-paid work or early marriage, a charity has warned.

Camfed, which operates in five African countries, said its partnership model proved this could be achieved and called for a six-year plan to get 6 million girls into school.

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Scientists discover why dozens of endangered elephants dropped dead

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In 2020, 350 elephants mysteriously died in Botswana, with a further 35 dying in similar circumstances in Zimbabwe. Now scientists think they may have found the reason why

In May and June 2020, the death of 350 elephants in Botswana’s Okavango delta baffled conservationists and sparked global speculation about what had caused it. Elephants of all ages and both sexes were affected, with many walking in circles before dying suddenly, collapsing on their faces. Two months later, 35 more elephants died in north-western Zimbabwe.

At the time, the deaths in Botswana were attributed to an unspecified cyanobacterial toxin, government officials said, and no further details were published.

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Sudanese evacuees in the UK fear limbo as six-month visas begin to expire

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Some of the people evacuated by British after civil war broke out say they have received no information from Home Office about their future

People who were evacuated to the UK from war-torn Sudan fear they will be left in limbo when their six-month visas begin to expire this week. Evacuees, who have been living in hotels or with family members since April, say they have received no information from the Home Office about their future status.

“I’m worried that on 26 October I finish the six months and if nothing happens with my visa and there’s no extension I’ll become an illegal immigrant,” said Azza Ahmed, who was a university lecturer in the capital, Khartoum, and is now living in a hotel in London with her son.

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Access to remains of Bambuti baby withdrawn by London museum

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Hunterian had listed stillborn child of African descent as viewable for medical research but removed it after criticism from author

The remains of a stillborn Bambuti baby have been removed from a museum’s catalogue of items that can be viewed for medical research after criticism from a Booker prize-shortlisted author.

Novelist Nadifa Mohamed is the presenter of an upcoming Channel 4 documentary examining the history of “human zoos” in Britain, in which African and Asian people were put on display to the wider public in a practice which is now deemed to have been deeply racist.

Britain’s Human Zoos is on Channel 4 on Saturday 28 October

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Aid trucks enter Gaza but UN chief says people need ‘much, much more’

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After visit to Rafah crossing, António Guterres says regular supply of food, water, medicine and fuel needed

The Rafah crossing point between Egypt and Gaza has finally opened to allow in a trickle of aid for the first time in two weeks, after intense negotiations involving the US, Israel, Egypt and the UN.

The shipment of 20 trucks bringing medical supplies, however, offered very limited relief to Gaza’s 2.3 million population, under fire and with barely anything to eat or drink.

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UK politicians and campaigners call for reparative justice for African slave trade

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Cross-party MPs host inaugural conference to agree on common statement to put to parliament

Politicians, campaigners and community groups are uniting for the first time to make “a very distinct and clear call for reparative justice” at an inaugural reparations conference this weekend.

The all-party parliamentary group for Afrikan reparations (APPG-AR), a group of cross-party MPs, is hosting its first reparations conference in Euston in north London to collectively agree on a common statement with stakeholders and grassroots campaigners that can be used by MPs to push forward a policy for reparative justice in the House of Commons.

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Actor reporting on asylum seekers finds brother among arrivals in Canary Islands

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Thimbo Samb, based in Madrid, was reunited with his older brother who had made boat journey from Senegal

A Madrid-based actor who had travelled to the Canary Islands to report on the arrival of a near-record number of asylum seekers was reunited with his brother after finding out that he was among the thousands who have made the treacherous trip from Senegal to Spain in recent weeks.

Thimbo Samb and his team had arrived in the archipelago hoping to tell the story of the more than 23,000 asylum seekers who have turned up on its shores so far this year. But the Senegal-born actor’s trip took a different turn after he learned that his older brother was among the many who had recently set off on the risky route.

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Sunak reiterates support for two-state solution in meeting with Abbas

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PM met Palestinian Authority leader in Egypt as part of tour of the region to try to prevent the conflict escalating

Rishi Sunak has held talks in Cairo with the leader of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, where the two men condemned Hamas and the prime minister reiterated the UK’s support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“The leaders agreed on the need for all parties to take steps to protect civilians, and civilian infrastructure, and minimise the loss of innocent lives,” a spokesperson for Sunak said.

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Niger’s military rulers say ousted president tried to escape custody

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Escape attempt failed and ‘main actors’ have been arrested, says regime spokesperson on state TV

Niger’s military rulers say they have foiled an attempt by Mohamed Bazoum, the former president they ousted in a coup in July, to escape custody.

“At around three in the morning, the ousted president Mohamed Bazoum and his family, his two cooks and two security elements, tried to escape from his place of detention,” the regime’s spokesperson, Amadou Abdramane, said on state television.

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Thousands of refugees in danger as Sudan fighting spreads from Khartoum

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Fighting intensifies in South Kordofan state and also threatens Gezira state, to where hundreds of thousands of people have fled

Fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has spread south of Khartoum towards Gezira state, endangering the lives of thousands of people who have fled there from the capital.

The conflict is also intensifying in South Kordofan state, where a large rebel force, the SPLMN, that mobilised in June, has been relentlessly attacking army barracks, and in Darfur, where Arab militias backed by or affiliated to the RSF have been accused of conducting a brutal campaign of ethnic violence.

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MSF suspends surgery at Khartoum hospital after Sudanese military blocks supplies

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Charity says that medication and materials at Bashair teaching hospital have run out and surgical team is being withdrawn

The medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières has suspended life-saving surgery at a hospital in Khartoum after the Sudanese military blocked medical supplies from entering the city.

MSF said it had been refused permission to transport supplies from warehouses in Wad Madani, in Al Jazirah state, to hospitals in the south of the capital since 8 September. The charity said on Thursday that medication and materials at Bashair teaching hospital have now run out and the team could no longer perform trauma surgery or caesarean sections.

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Guinea-Bissau’s capital has power cut off after government fails to pay electricity bill

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City of Bissau, which has a population of more than 490,000, had no electricity for one-and-a-half days

Power returned to Guinea-Bissau’s capital on Wednesday afternoon after the west African country’s government resumed payments to Turkish company Karpowership, which had plunged the city into darkness due to an unpaid debt of $17m.

Karpowership said it cut off electricity supplies to the city of Bissau – which has a population of more than 490,000 – for one and a half days when fuel suppliers paused work after a protracted period of non-payment.

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Tributes paid to Berkshire newlyweds killed in Uganda terrorist attack

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David and Celia Barlow were married in South Africa on Saturday and were killed by a group linked to Islamic State

Tributes have been paid to a couple who were killed on their honeymoon in Uganda in a “cowardly terrorist attack”.

A British businessman, David Barlow, his wife Celia, a South African-born hotel executive, and their Ugandan guide were driving through the Queen Elizabeth national park on Tuesday when they were attacked and killed by a group linked to Islamic State.

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Israel faces blame from regional allies over Gaza hospital deaths

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Several Arab states condemn Israel for explosion, which it blames on failed rocket launch by Palestinian Islamic Jihad

Israel is using media and diplomatic channels to try to convince leaders of Arab countries that Tuesday’s blast at a Gaza hospital was caused by a misfiring jihadist missile, after even its regional allies rushed to blame it for the explosion.

Tuesday’s explosion, which killed hundreds, was blamed by Palestinian officials on an Israeli airstrike. Israel said it was caused by a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, which denied blame.

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