Category Archives: Africa

Arab spring dreams in ruins as Tunisia goes to polls against backdrop of repression

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Critics of incumbent Kais Saied say he has increasingly bent the country’s institutions to his will

Tunisia will hold a presidential election on Sunday against the backdrop of a crackdown on dissent and human rights violations committed against undocumented migrants seeking to cross the Mediterranean to Europe.

The incumbent, Kais Saied, whose most prominent critics are behind bars, is expected to sail to an easy win after a campaign with few rallies and public debates, marking a significant step back for a country that long prided itself as the birthplace of the Arab spring uprisings of 2011.

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Starmer defends UK ceding control of Chagos Islands amid Tory criticism

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PM says deal has secured future of US-UK military base as Conservative leadership hopefuls play blame game

Keir Starmer has defended giving up UK control of the Chagos Islands, as the decision has descended into a political blame game among Conservative leadership candidates.

The prime minister said the agreement with Mauritius over the islands would secure the long-term future of a joint US-UK military base on Diego Garcia, which he deemed as the “single most important thing”.

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More than 100 people missing after being forced off boats in Djibouti

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Nearly 50 people dead and 108 unaccounted for after smugglers apparently force passengers into the water

More than 100 people are still missing after smugglers apparently forced migrants to leave their boats and swim in the Red Sea off the coast of Djibouti, the International Organization for Migration has said.

Forty-eight people have so far been confirmed dead after the incident on Monday, which involved two boats that had left Yemen for Djibouti with a total of 310 people onboard, said Frantz Celestin, a regional director at the UN agency. “Unfortunately, we have yet to account for about 108 of the migrants,” he said.

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At least 78 dead and dozens missing after ferry disaster in DR Congo

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Overcrowded boat on Lake Kivu capsizes as it was about to dock near Goma, with death toll likely to rise significantly

At least 78 people have drowned and many more are missing after a boat belived to be carrying 278 passengers capsized on Thursday morning just a few hundred metres from the shore of Lake Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The accident happened just as the vessel, MV Merdy, was about to dock at the port of Kituku, just outside the city of Goma, after crossing the lake from the town of Minova.

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Tanzania suspends news websites over ad referencing killings of dissidents

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Regulator says advert by publisher of the Citizen newspaper ‘likely to harm national unity’

Tanzania has suspended the online operations of a top newspaper publisher after one of its publications ran an animated advert depicting the country’s president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, and referencing a spate of recent abductions and killings of dissidents.

The advert, published on X and Instagram on Tuesday by the Citizen, an English-language newspaper, showed a character resembling the president flipping through TV channels. Each channel showed people speaking about loved ones they had lost through disappearances.

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Britain to return Chagos Islands to Mauritius ending years of dispute

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Agreement to hand back UK’s last African colony follows 13 rounds of negotiations and international pressure

The UK has agreed to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, ending years of bitter dispute over Britain’s last African colony.

The agreement will allow a right of return for Chagossians, who the UK expelled from their homes in the 1960s and 1970s, in what has been described as a crime against humanity and one of the most shameful episodes of postwar colonialism.

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Dikembe Mutombo, NBA Hall of Famer and humanitarian, dies at 58

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  • Former NBA star’s diagnosis was revealed two years ago
  • Center was known for charity work in US and Africa

Basketball Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo, whose towering presence dominated basketball on and off the court, has died from brain cancer at the age of 58.

“Dikembe Mutombo was simply larger than life,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement on Monday. “On the court, he was one of the greatest shot blockers and defensive players in the history of the NBA. Off the floor, he poured his heart and soul into helping others.”

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Seventeen killed in two mass shootings in South African town

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Police hunting for suspects in attacks that took place in same neighbourhood in Eastern Cape province

Seventeen people, including 15 women, have been killed in two mass shootings that took place close to each other in a rural town in South Africa, police said.

A search was under way for the suspects, the national police spokesperson, Brig Athlenda Mathe, said in a statement on Saturday. One other person was in critical condition in the hospital, she added.

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British army to investigate conduct of troops in Kenya amid rape and murder claims

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Defence secretary to meet family of woman allegedly killed by soldier, as ITV airs documentary alleging fresh abuses

The army is to launch an inquiry into the behaviour of British troops posted to a military base in Kenya, after multiple allegations of serious abuses committed by soldiers, including rape and murder.

The inquiry is to examine the conduct of military personnel posted to the British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK). It is where the soldier alleged to have murdered a Kenyan woman, Agnes Wanjiru, was posted at the time of her death in 2012.

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Libya central bank deal could resolve ‘all political issues’, says head of state

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Mohamed al-Menfi defends dismissal of previous governor and says deal will bring back international accountability

A deal backed by leaders on both sides of Libya’s political divide to appoint a new central bank governor has the potential “to resolve all the political issues” in the country, Libya’s head of state has said.

Mohamed al-Menfi, the president of Libya’s Presidential Council who is largely aligned with the UN-recognised government in Tripoli, was accused of acting unilaterally and propelling the country into fresh turmoil when in August he dismissed the previous long-serving bank governor, Sadiq al-Kabir, who then fled into exile.

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Sudan’s army launches push to retake ground in capital

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Heavy bombardments and clashes reported before army commander addresses UN general assembly

Sudan’s army launched artillery and airstrikes in Sudan’s capital on Thursday in its biggest operation to regain ground there since early in its 17-month war with the Rapid Support Forces, witnesses and military sources said.

The push by the army, which lost control of most of the capital at the start of the conflict, came before its commander, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, gave an address at the UN general assembly in New York.

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Eswatini opposition leader in critical condition after alleged poisoning

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Mlungisi Makhanya stable in hospital in South Africa, where he was in exile from Africa’s last absolute monarchy

The leader of Eswatini’s main opposition party is in a critical but stable condition after allegedly being poisoned in what allies say is an assassination attempt.

Mlungisi Makhanya is in a hospital in South Africa after the alleged poisoning on Monday night at his home in the capital, Pretoria, where he was living in exile from Africa’s last absolute monarchy, said Penuel Malinga, the secretary general of the People’s United Democratic Movement (Pudemo).

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Race to combat mpox misinformation as vaccine rollout in DRC begins

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Poll suggests half of Congolese have not heard of deadly disease, as conspiracy theories and rumours spread

For doctors and nurses fighting mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the virus itself is not the only enemy. They are also facing swirling rumours and misinformation.

The first of millions of promised doses of mpox vaccine have finally started to arrive. Now the focus is on ensuring that people who need them will take them when the vaccination campaign begins next month, and teaching wider communities how to protect themselves.

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‘Thrown like a rag doll’: British tourist narrowly survives hippo attack in Zambia

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Roland Cherry, from Warwickshire, sustained severe bite wounds after being mauled by animal during safari

A man narrowly survived after being dragged to the bottom of a river and “thrown through the air like a rag doll” when he was attacked by hippo while canoeing on holiday in Zambia.

Roland Cherry, who was on five-week holiday through southern Africa with his wife, Shirley, sustained severe bite wounds across his body, including a 10in wound to his abdomen, as well as a thigh injury and dislocated shoulder in the attack.

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Rwandan forces and M23 rebels shelled refugee camps in DRC, report claims

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Human Rights Watch alleges potential violation of international human rights law on many occasions this year

Rwandan forces and M23 rebels have shelled refugee camps and other highly populated areas in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo on many occasions this year, Human Rights Watch has claimed.

The NGO also accused the DRC’s armed forces and its allied militias of putting the camps’ residents in danger by stationing their artillery nearby in its report alleging violation of international humanitarian and human rights law in the longstanding war in the central African country.

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US announces $424m in Sudan aid amid pleas to stop ‘senseless’ war

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American envoy to UN urges humanitarian pause and says international community ‘cannot simply look away’

The United States has announced $424m in new aid for displaced and starving Sudanese, with the US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, saying all options for civilian protection must now be considered by the international community.

Describing the war in Sudan as horrific and shaming for the whole world, she said it was now necessary “to compel, insist and demand that the warring parties agree a humanitarian pause to allow aid to flow and for citizens to flee”.

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Eswatini opposition leader poisoned in South Africa, party says

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Alleged poisoning follows last year’s killing of human rights lawyer and 2021’s pro-democracy protests

Eswatini’s main opposition party has alleged that its leader was poisoned in an assassination attempt, putting renewed scrutiny on the southern African country that is one of the last remaining absolute monarchies, where authorities have for years moved to quash pro-democracy movements.

The People’s United Democratic Movement party (Pudemo) said its president, Mlungisi Makhanya, was hospitalised after being poisoned in neighbouring South Africa on Tuesday. It said he was under security protection but gave no detail on his condition or the circumstances of the alleged poisoning. Makhanya had recently said there would be new pro-democracy protests in Eswatini next month. The Eswatini government spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo denied any involvement.

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South Sudan medics trial AI app to identify snakes and improve bite treatment

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Software with database of 380,000 pictures aims to aid quick and accurate identification and ensure correct use of antivenoms

The race to treat snakebite patients in time to save them could be eased by the development of software powered by artificial intelligence.

The medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is trialling AI snake detection in South Sudan using a database of 380,000 pictures of snakes to identify venomous species.

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Firm disclosed phone data of shot Tanzanian politician, UK tribunal hears

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Tigo’s former investigator claims he was unfairly dismissed for raising concerns over 2017 attack on Tundu Lissu

Gunmen tried to assassinate a Tanzanian opposition politician after a telecoms company secretly passed his mobile phone data to the government, according to evidence heard in a London tribunal.

The mobile phone company Tigo provided 24/7 phone call and location data belonging to Tundu Lissu to Tanzanian authorities in the weeks before the attempt on his life in September 2017.

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