Category Archives: Africa

Climate adaptation finance to Africa must increase tenfold, research shows

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Countries forced to choose between climate resilience, fighting poverty and paying debts, says Ban Ki-moon

The flow of climate adaptation finance to Africa must increase up to tenfold by 2035 to meet the deepening effects of the climate crisis, according to research.

As the Africa Climate Summit continued in Nairobi, campaigners spoke of the desperate need to get funding to people who are already being affected by climate change. Africa, the region most impacted by the climate emergency, receives only 3% of global climate finance.

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African leaders call for debt relief to help tackle climate crisis

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Nairobi Declaration, issued at first African Climate Summit, also includes call for global carbon taxes

African leaders have called for debt relief across the continent to allow countries to get on with responding to the climate crisis, as they publish the Nairobi Declaration at the end of the first African climate summit.

The declaration, which had a heavy focus on climate finance, also included a call for global carbon taxes, and for increased representation of African and other countries in the governance of multilateral banks.

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Humanitarian crisis as 5m displaced by civil war in Sudan

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IOM says half of country’s population now in need of aid and protection after months of violence

Five million people have been displaced by civil war in Sudan, which is facing a rapidly mounting humanitarian emergency after months of serious fighting between the military and a rival paramilitary force.

The displacement figure, provided by the International Organization for Migration, echoes a warning from the UN’s main refugee agency, UNHCR, that more than $1bn would be needed to support those fleeing the violence into neighbouring countries.

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Clashes with militants kill 53 Burkina Faso soldiers and volunteers, army says

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Operations still under way in bid to retake territory in northern Yatenga province

Seventeen soldiers and 36 volunteer fighters have been killed in heavy clashes with militants in northern Burkina Faso, the army has said. It is the worst attack in months in the west African country that has been fighting hardline militants for years.

Burkina Faso has been battling armed groups, some with links to al-Qaida and Islamic State, in its northern desert region since 2015.

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Germany matches DNA from skulls stolen from African colony to living relatives

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Remains pillaged in colonial era for ‘scientific’ experiments are DNA matched to Tanzanian descendants

Researchers in Berlin have identified living relatives of people whose remains were stolen from Tanzania and taken to Germany for “scientific” experiments during the colonial era.

Berlin’s Museum of Prehistory and Early History has been carrying out research since 2017 on about 1,100 skulls taken from what was then known as German East Africa.

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Sudan war crime trial of former oil firm executives starts in Sweden

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Prosecutors say ex-chair and CEO were complicit in atrocities by Sudanese army and militias, which both deny

Two former executives of a Swedish oil company have gone on trial in Stockholm, accused of complicity in war crimes in Sudan between 1999 and 2003 – charges they both deny.

Ian Lundin, a Swede, and Alex Schneiter, a Swiss national, are accused of asking Sudan’s government to make its military responsible for security at the site of one of Lundin Oil’s exploration fields, which later led to aerial bombings, killing of civilians and burning of entire villages, according to the prosecution.

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Professor Hakim Adi shortlisted for prestigious Wolfson award

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The nomination for Adi, the first British person of African heritage to become a professor of history in the UK, is a vindication for the academic who was made redundant a week ago

Hakim Adi, the first British person of African heritage to become a professor of history in the UK, has been shortlisted for a prestigious history writing prize. This comes after Adi was made redundant by the University of Chichester when it cut a course he founded.

Adi has made the shortlist for the Wolfson history prize for his 2022 book, African and Caribbean People in Britain: A History. The winner of the prize, announced in November, will receive £50,000.

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Gabon coup leader takes presidential oath and promises ‘free’ elections

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Gen Brice Oligui Nguema pledges to restore civilian rule but does not give timeframe after ousting of Ali Bongo

Brice Oligui Nguema, the general who led a coup last week that toppled Gabon’s 55-year-old ruling dynasty, has taken the oath of office as interim president and promised “free, transparent and credible elections” to restore civilian rule, though without giving a timeframe.

He also pledged to grant amnesty to political prisoners and insisted the coup had saved Gabon from bloodshed after elections that were “obviously loaded”.

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Mnangagwa vows to improve lives of Zimbabweans as he is sworn in for second term

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Opposition politicians claim that voters faced widespread intimidation in election won by Zimbabwe’s president

Emmerson Mnangagwa has promised to give Zimbabweans a better life after he was sworn in as the country’s president for a second term following a vote that the opposition has claimed was stolen.

“The lives of our people should be improved, nothing less,” Mnangagwa told thousands of supporters at the National Sports stadium in Harare, and called for peace and tolerance from political opponents.

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African leaders at odds over climate plans as crucial Nairobi summit opens

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Oil-producing African nations argue they should be able to use fossil fuel resources for economic growth

African leaders and campaigners are at odds over the way forward for the continent as a critical climate summit begins in Nairobi.

Some countries, such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Egypt and South Africa, have been expanding their renewable energy access and leading transition efforts on the continent, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.

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Algeria says its coastguard fired warning shots before killing jetski riders

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Defence ministry releases its version of events five days after two dual French-Moroccan men were shot dead on entering Algerian waters

Algeria’s defence ministry has said its coastguard fired warning shots before firing directly at a man on a jetski who entered Algerian waters, in an incident that a survivor said left two dead.

The incident took place on Tuesday after five men strayed into Algerian waters on jetskis near the Moroccan coastal resort of Saïdia on Algeria’s border, according to Mohamed Kissi, who said he survived the shooting.

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Sudan: at least 25 civilians killed in weekend attacks on Khartoum

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Airstrikes and artillery and rocket fire reported as clashes between armed forces and paramilitaries shows no sign of abating

Twenty-five civilians were killed in attacks in Khartoum over the weekend, as the violence showed no signs of abating after nearly five months of war.

Five civilians died on Sunday when bombs that “fell on their homes” in the Sudanese capital, a medical source said, a day after an airstrike in the south of the city killed at least 20.

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Netanyahu says Eritreans involved in Tel Aviv clashes should be deported

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Israeli PM also orders plan to remove all African asylum seekers after protests by rival groups of Eritreans

The Israeli prime minister has said he wants Eritreans involved in a violent clash in Tel Aviv to be deported immediately and has ordered a plan to remove all of the country’s African asylum seekers.

The remarks on Sunday followed bloody protests by rival groups of Eritreans in south Tel Aviv the day before that left dozens of people injured. Eritreans, supporters and opponents of Eritrea’s government, faced off with construction lumber, pieces of metal and rocks, smashing shop windows and police cars. Israeli police in riot gear fired teargas, stun grenades and live rounds while officers on horseback tried to control the protesters.

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Sent home: how Kenyan’s dream of life as a UK care worker turned sour

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Anthony Mbare found his tied visa put him at mercy of his bosses. He is one of thousands who have come to plug shortages in adult social care

It is a bitter November night and Anthony Mbare is shivering in a car in rural Wiltshire, south-west England, waiting to see his next client.

It’s 3C and he has been here for almost two hours but he cannot turn on the heater because the car battery might die. A petrol-station coffee to warm him up is £3 he cannot afford. He blows on his hands, wriggles his toes and huddles under a blanket.

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Thousands rally in Niger seeking withdrawal of French troops

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Demonstrators gather near base housing French soldiers as military junta accuses Paris of interference

Thousands of protesters rallied in Niger’s capital Niamey to call for the withdrawal of French troops, as demanded by a junta that seized power in June.

The demonstrators gathered near a base housing French soldiers on Saturday, after a call by several civic organisations hostile to the French military presence in the west African country.

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Moroccan jetski tourist describes being shot at by Algerian coastguard

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Mohamed Kissi says forces approached and began fatal shooting after group strayed into Algerian waters

A Moroccan man has described how Algerian coastguard forces drew level with him and a group of holidaymakers who had accidentally strayed into the nation’s waters on jetskis before opening fire.

Mohamed Kissi said the incident took place at sunset on Tuesday when the four men travelling on two jetskis got lost after taking a wrong turn off the beach resort of Saïdia on Morocco’s north-east tip. The group was almost out of fuel when they unknowingly crossed the border into Algeria.

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Gabon reopens borders three days after military coup

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Officers seized power on Wednesday, placing the president, Ali Bongo, under house arrest

Gabon has reopened its borders, an army spokesperson said, three days after closing them during a military coup in which the president, Ali Bongo, was ousted.

Military officers led by General Brice Oligui Nguema seized power on Wednesday, placed Bongo under house arrest and installed Nguema as head of state, ending the Bongo family’s 56-year hold on power.

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South Sudan headed to Paris Olympics as best African team at Fiba World Cup

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  • South Sudan clinch berth at Paris Summer Olympics
  • World’s youngest state is automatic qualifier from Africa
  • Bright Stars beat Angola to finish 3-2 at Fiba World Cup

It was a chant that Luol Deng waited years to lead. He stood along the side of the South Sudan locker room after their run in the World Cup was over, cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled the same thing, over and over.

“Where we goin’?” he shouted.

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Eritrean asylum seekers and police injured in clashes in Israel

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Violence broke out as Eritreans protested at event held by the country’s embassy in Tel Aviv

A dozen Eritrean asylum seekers have been injured by Israeli police gunfire in Tel Aviv after a demonstration against an Eritrean government event turned violent, police and medical sources said.

Clashes began on Saturday outside a venue in south Tel Aviv that was to host an event organised by the Eritrean embassy in Israel.

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