Category Archives: Africa

At least 35 people feared dead after dinghy sinks en route to Canary Islands

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Child among the dead and 24 people rescued in Moroccan-led operation, say Spanish maritime sources

At least 35 people are feared to have drowned after an inflatable boat carrying up to 60 migrants and refugees sank while en route to the Canary Islands early on Wednesday morning.

The Spanish migration NGO Caminando Fronteras (Walking Borders) said 60 people were on the boat, of whom 39 were missing. Another migration NGO, Alarm Phone, put the number of people onboard at 59 and said 35 were missing.

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Foreign Office accused of ignoring Sudan atrocity warnings

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Exclusive: Charities and civil groups say FO pursued an over-optimistic agenda of ‘democracy first’ in Sudan

The UK Foreign Office has been accused of ignoring repeated warnings from Sudanese groups and western experts that Sudan was teetering on the brink of a conflict that would lead to mass atrocities and identity-based crimes.

Sudan has been gripped by violence since two rival generals went to war against each other in April. The Commons foreign affairs select committee is conducting an inquiry into Whitehall’s anticipation of the crisis and the level of support provided to British citizens trapped in Sudan.

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Sudan paramilitary group boasts of detaining Islamists

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Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, leader of the Rapid Support Forces, wants to frame Islamist opponents as a threat

Hundreds of Islamist leaders and activists in Sudan have been detained by the Rapid Support Forces in a wave of repression targeting the paramilitary group’s political opponents.

The arrests began before the outbreak of fighting in April between the RSF and forces loyal to Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the de facto military leader, but have intensified since.

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Families in Uganda bury their dead after school massacre

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Relatives grieve as search for missing continues after raid by militants in which dozens of pupils died

Grieving families prepared to bury their dead in western Uganda while others desperately searched for loved ones still missing after militants killed dozens of pupils in a school attack.

Officials say at least 41 people, mostly pupils, were massacred on Friday in the worst attack of its kind in Uganda since 2010.

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Sudan: warring sides agree to new ceasefire after fighting intensifies

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Mediators from the US and Saudi Arabia broker pause after airstrikes on Khartoum kill 17 civilians including five children

Sudan’s warring generals agreed to a new 72-hour truce to take place from Sunday, US and Saudi mediators said, after fighting intensified with deadly airstrikes in Khartoum and an exodus of wounded from Darfur over the border into Chad.

Airstrikes killed 17 civilians, including five children, in the capital on Saturday, a citizens’ group said, while medics in Chad reported hundreds of wounded from Darfur seeking treatment.

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At least 41 people dead after IS-linked attack on Uganda school

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Militants believed to be Allied Democratic Forces abducted others in attack on secondary school in Mpondwe

Militants linked to Islamic State reportedly killed at least 41 people and abducted others in an attack on a school in western Uganda, police have said.

“Our forces are pursuing the enemy to rescue those abducted and destroy this group,” defence spokesperson Felix Kulayigye said on Twitter.

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‘I’m left with nothing’: Nigerians feel brunt of economic shakeup

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President Tinubu’s policies please foreign investors, but a devalued currency and soaring petrol prices mean ‘national sacrifice mode’ is widely unpopular

Nigerians are feeling the strain as their new president pushes through a series of unpopular policies that have earned him praise from foreign investors.

Bola Tinubu, who was sworn in on 29 May, has surprised many observers by taking a running start to his tenure of Africa’s most populous country. In little over two weeks he has banished a longstanding petrol subsidy, ejected the country’s central bank governor and ended restrictions on the rate of the naira, Nigeria’s currency.

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Sudan: paramilitary forces blamed for assassination of West Darfur governor

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Khamis Abdallah Abbakar was murdered hours after criticising Rapid Support Forces on television

Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been blamed for the assassination and mutilation of a senior government official, amid growing reports of mass killings in the restive Darfur region in the country’s devastating war.

Khamis Abdallah Abbakar, the governor of West Darfur, was murdered this week just hours after he gave an interview to a Saudi-owned TV station in which he criticised the RSF and described a “genocide”.


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Greek shipwreck highlights divided Libya’s inability to stem flow of refugees

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Absence of unified Libyan national government leaves Europe lacking effective allies to tackle people-smuggling trade

The mass drowning of refugees heading from Libya for Italy as their large boat capsized off the coast of Greece underlines Libya’s continuing power vacuum and the inability of its divided leaders to deliver on their promises to stem the profitable people-smuggling trade. It is striking that the ship sailed from the eastern port of Tobruk, a city where local leaders have mounted a campaign against illegal migration.

On 4 May, the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, granted Libya’s strongman in the east, Khalifa Haftar, a meeting in Rome at which she offered to invest in Libya’s east – the country has been divided into a rival east and west since 2015 – in return for action on the smugglers.

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Massive strike pits African fishers against ‘superprofitable’ EU firms

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About 2,000 crew members withdrew labour over pay and conditions, as well as citing serious breaches of overfishing rules by Spanish and French companies

The waters of west Africa and the Indian Ocean boast some of the world’s largest, healthiest populations of tropical tuna, and that makes them havens for industrial tuna fishing fleets, owned by countries vastly richer than the nations whose borders form these coastlines.

In order to protect the fish populations of poorer African nations from rapacious overfishing by richer countries, EU tuna vessels are bound by agreements centred on the sustainability and “social empowerment” of third countries.

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Anguish as rape survivors in Sudan unable to access vital medication

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Emergency contraception, HIV-prevention and abortion drugs are locked in a warehouse in Khartoum – leaving women to turn to desperate measures

Rape survivors in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, are struggling to get hold of emergency contraception and abortion medication.

Access to a warehouse where 47,000 medical post-rape kits are stored has been cut off since the conflict began in April. Women are using social media to share information about where to find drugs to prevent pregnancies and infections – or are using herbal remedies.

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Kenya cult death toll passes 300, with more exhumations planned

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More than 600 people still missing, authorities say, amid reports pastor ordered followers to starve themselves


The death toll linked to a Kenyan pastor accused of ordering his followers to starve themselves to death to meet Jesus has passed 300, with the figure expected to increase as more exhumations are planned.

Authorities say the dead were members of the Good News international church, led by Paul Mackenzie, who is accused of ordering his followers to starve themselves and their children to death so they could go to heaven before the end of the world.

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About 100 wedding guests feared dead as boat capsizes in northern Nigeria

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Victims, including women and children, were reportedly returning from ceremony

A boat carrying residents returning from a wedding capsized in northern Nigeria killing about 100 people, police and local residents have said, as a search for survivors intensified.

The boat capsized early on Monday on the Niger River in the state of Kwara close to neighbouring Niger state, a police spokesperson, Okasanmi Ajayi, said.

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Aid agencies raise alarm as solo children cross Chad border to flee Sudan fighting

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Unicef says ‘more and more unaccompanied children’ among thousands of refugees streaming across 1,000km-long border

Hundreds of unaccompanied children have crossed the border from Sudan into Chad in recent weeks as fighting separates families and forces minors to make the arduous journey to safety without their parents.

Humanitarian workers say “more and more” children are arriving alone in the neighbouring country, to which more than 100,000 refugees, about 60% of them under-18s, have fled since fighting erupted between rival military factions in mid-April.

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Romania recalls ambassador who allegedly compared monkey to African diplomats

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UN’s Africa group ‘not prepared to participate’ with Dragos Viorel Tigau after alleged comment in Kenya

The Africa group within the United Nations said it would never work again with the Romanian ambassador to Kenya in certain forums after he allegedly compared them to a monkey while attending a meeting in Nairobi.

The group also demanded an unconditional and public apology to the people of Africa.

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Three Britons confirmed dead in Egypt boat fire

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Three were among group of diving enthusiasts reportedly on six-day stay onboard boat when fire broke out

Three British tourists have been confirmed dead after a fire onboard a diving boat off Egypt’s Red Sea coast, a day after they were declared missing after a frantic search by the captain and crew.

Twelve other divers and 14 crew, including the captain of the Hurricane, were rescued after abandoning the ship on Sunday morning. The group had sailed out to Elphinstone reef, a famed diving spot roughly 12km offshore and 30km from the resort town of Marsa Alam.

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EU may give Tunisia more than €1bn in aid to help finances and stem migration

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Ursula von der Leyen says €900m will be macrofinancial assistance while €105m will help combat people-smuggling

The European Union is considering providing more than €1bn (£850m) in aid for Tunisia to rescue state finances and deal with a migration crisis, the EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said on Sunday.

Speaking in Tunisia, Von der Leyen said €900m would be macrofinancial assistance while an immediate €150m would support a reform agenda set by the International Monetary Fund.

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Three British tourists missing in Egypt after boat catches fire

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Search party launched after 12 British nationals and 12 Egyptian crewmembers aboard scuba diving vessel rescued

Three British tourists are missing after a scuba diving boat they were cruising in caught fire off Egypt’s Red Sea coastline on Sunday, authorities have said.

A further 12 British nationals were rescued along with 12 Egyptian crew members and were brought to safety at the nearby diving resort of Marsa Shagra, about 13 miles (21km) north of the town of Marsa Alam, according to a statement from the Red Sea State governor’s office and security sources.

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Nine people killed in attack by al-Shabaab in Somali capital Mogadishu

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Islamist militants claim responsibility for blast at popular restaurant on Friday night that injured 20 people

Nine people were killed in an attack claimed by al-Shabaab Islamist militants at an upmarket restaurant in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, on Friday night, police have said.

Those killed at the popular Pearl restaurant were six civilians and three soldiers, police said in a statement.

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Hero who saved hundreds of children during Rwandan genocide dies aged 61

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Orphanage run by Damas Gisimba and his brother became refuge from militias during genocide that killed 800,000 Rwandans

Damas Gisimba, who sheltered and saved the lives of hundreds of people during the Rwandan genocide, has died. He was 61.

In 1994, Gisimba and his brother were running an orphanage founded by their parents in Kigali, the Rwandan capital.

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