Storm has been upgraded to Very Intense Tropical Cyclone with severe risk of deadly landslides
Cyclone Freddy, upgraded to a Very Intense Tropical Cyclone on 19 February, is expected to make landfall in Madagascar this week, with fatalities likely.
The previous tropical cyclone to affect the country was Cheneso, which struck about a month ago and caused dozens of deaths. Freddy is forecast to inflict much more damage.
Continue reading...Polls put businessman ahead of the two main parties in next weekend’s elections seen as key ‘inflection point’ for African country
Polls in Nigeria have placed outsider candidate Peter Obi in the lead before presidential elections next weekend, heralding potentially sweeping change in Africa’s most populous nation.
A win for Obi, a 61-year-old businessman turned politician, would overturn politics in Nigeria, ending decades of dominance by the two main establishment parties.
Continue reading...Sam Patten, an American consultant later mired in controversy, exploited emails obtained by Tal Hanan’s team
In late December 2014, a team from Cambridge Analytica flew to Madrid for meetings with a handful of old and new contacts. A member of the former Libyan royal family referred to as “His Royal Highness” was there. So, too, was the son of a US billionaire, a Nigerian businessman and a private Israeli intelligence operative.
For Alexander Nix, the Etonian chief executive of Cambridge Analytica, and his new employee Brittany Kaiser, who networked like most other people breathed, there may have been nothing unusual about such a gathering.
Continue reading...Minute’s applause held at St James’ Park, where Ghanaian footballer spent five years
Tributes have been paid to the Ghanaian and former Premier League footballer Christian Atsu, who was found dead under the earthquake rubble of his home in Turkey.
There was a minute’s applause for Atsu on Saturday at St James’ Park before Newcastle United’s game against Liverpool, which his wife and children attended. Atsu spent five years at Newcastle from 2016 to 2021.
Continue reading...Ten public figures arrested since Saturday as President Kais Saied pursues what Amnesty calls a repression of dissent
Rights groups have expressed grave alarm at a crackdown on opposition figures and the media in Tunisia, where 10 public figures have been arrested since Saturday as President Kais Saied seemingly moves to stamp out dissent.
“We’re witnessing the increasing repression of dissent in Tunisia,” said Amna Guellali, Amnesty International’s deputy director for the Middle East and north Africa. “Saied is using all the resources of the state to signal his absolutist agenda. Anyone who opposes him, either politically or in the media, is at risk in this witch-hunt,” said Guellali, who is based in Tunisia’s capital, Tunis.
Continue reading...Strategist says he noticed ‘increased activity’, after revelations about activities of a disinformation unit
A senior strategist with close links to Kenya’s president, William Ruto, has publicly acknowledged that his Telegram account was infiltrated in the lead-up to last year’s election.
Dennis Itumbi told the Star newspaper that he had noticed “increased activity” on his Telegram last year but called it “inconsequential”.
Continue reading...‘Racist’ inequalities leave sub-Saharan region bearing burden of more that half world’s new HIV infections, says Winnie Byanyima
The head of UNAids, Winnie Byanyima, has attacked pharmaceutical giants for prioritising profits over saving lives, and warned that “racist” inequalities are undermining progress towards ending Aids, especially in Africa.
Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for more than half of all new infections, with women and marginalised groups facing higher new infection rates. Aids-related illnesses were the leading cause of mortality among African women, and adolescent girls and young women were three times more likely than men to get HIV.
Continue reading...Angry protesters attack ATMs and block roads in frustration at lack of new banknotes days before election
Rioters have attacked bank ATMs and blocked roads in three Nigerian cities as anger spilled on the streets over a scarcity of cash, just days before the country’s general election.
Nigeria has been struggling with a shortage in physical cash since the central bank began to swap old bills of the local naira currency for new ones, leading to a shortfall in banknotes.
Continue reading...Revelation shows dangers posed by bad actors and paid operatives in democratic systems across Africa
An Israeli disinformation specialist hired to run covert dirty tricks campaigns in African elections hacked political advisers close to Kenya’s president, William Ruto, in the run-up to last year’s election, an investigation can reveal.
The interference did not prevent Ruto winning the poll, nor the peaceful transfer of power in Kenya, but the revelation highlights the growing risks posed by the involvement of bad actors and paid operatives in the relatively new democratic systems and institutions across Africa.
Continue reading...Human Rights Watch also demands trial for ‘appalling colonial crime’ of expulsion – and continuing ill treatment – of Chagossians
The UK should pay full and unconditional reparations to generations affected by its forcible displacement of Chagos Islands inhabitants in the 1960s and 70s, an action that constituted a crime against humanity, Human Rights Watch has said.
The NGO said that individuals should be put on trial for the expulsion of Chagossians when the UK retained possession of what it refers to as British Indian Ocean Territory, or BIOT, after Mauritius gained independence in 1968.
Continue reading...The verdict, the first of its kind in almost a decade, has shocked many who fear country is sliding back into state extremism
Three Sudanese men have been sentenced to hand amputation for stealing, the first time in almost a decade that such a punishment has been handed down in the country’s courts.
The three men in their 20s were convicted of stealing gas cylinders in Omdurman, Sudan’s most populous city, which sits across the Nile River from the capital, Khartoum.
Continue reading...Parents of Kiernan Forbes pay tribute to ‘beloved son’ who was killed alongside another man while walking to car
One of South Africa’s top rap artists, known as AKA, has been shot dead outside a restaurant in the eastern city of Durban, his family said.
Kiernan Forbes, 35, won multiple South African awards, was nominated several times for a Black Entertainment Television award in the US and was once nominated for an MTV Europe music award.
Continue reading...Presidential election comes as fuel shortages and currency woes take toll on continent’s most populous country
Nigeria’s election on 25 February has been described as pivotal to the progress of democracy in Africa, where military coups and attempts by longstanding rulers to cling to power have raised fears of a “democratic retreat” from advances made since the end of the cold war.
More than a dozen African countries go the polls in the coming 12 months, but experts agree that the presidential and parliamentary vote in the continent’s most populous country is the one that matters the most.
Continue reading...Campaigners accuse Museveni regime of evading international scrutiny after shock move to end agreement with OHCHR
Rights activists and campaigners have condemned the Ugandan government’s decision to shut down the country’s UN human rights office, describing it as “shameful”.
In a letter to the Office of the UN high commissioner for human rights (OHCHR) in Uganda dated 3 February, the foreign affairs ministry said it will not renew the host country agreement it signed with the OHCHR, which established its initial mandate in the country in 2005. The current mandate, signed on 9 February 2020, expires in August.
Continue reading...Man pleads guilty to manslaughter after his car hit motorcycle carrying John Williams Ntwali
A Rwandan driver has been fined 1 million Rwandan francs ($920) for involuntary manslaughter over the death of a top journalist who was critical of the government.
John Williams Ntwali, editor of the Chronicles newspaper, was killed on 18 January when a speeding vehicle rammed a motorcycle on which he was riding pillion.
Continue reading...Decision on case of ex-Facebook moderator, who claims the work left him with PTSD, hailed as win for accountability of big tech in Africa
A Kenyan court has ruled that a case brought against Facebook by a former content moderator can go ahead.
Daniel Motaung, who was hired as a Facebook content moderator by the tech firm’s subcontractor Sama in 2019, filed a suit against the two companies last year, alleging that he had been exposed to graphic and traumatic content at work, without adequate prior knowledge or proper psychosocial support – which he says left him with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Continue reading...Catholic charity Cafod says local NGOs are best placed to respond on the frontline but are being cut out of the process
South Sudan is facing the world’s most severe food insecurity crisis, yet the local groups most effective at delivering aid are not being directly funded, according to a new report.
Only 0.4% of humanitarian funding meant for food is directly channelled towards South Sudanese NGOs, despite them being the most effective at tackling hunger, according to the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (Cafod).
Continue reading...Quality education and exposure to different cultures identified as key preventive factors in African survey
Human rights abuses committed by security forces and economic deprivation are among the most important drivers of recruitment to extremist groups in Africa, a survey has found.
Researchers working for the UN Development Programme (UNDP) interviewed more than 1,000 active or recent militants across eight countries in Africa in the pioneering study.
Continue reading...Three other accused will serve sentences of up to 30 years over deaths of Willie Kimani, Josephat Mwenda and Joseph Muiruri, in case that sparked national protests
A police officer, Fredrick Leliman, who was among those convicted of killing Nairobi lawyer Willie Kimani, his client Josephat Mwenda and taxi driver Joseph Muiruri, has been sentenced to death by a Nairobi court.
In the judgment delivered on Friday, three other accused, Stephen Cheburet, Sylvia Wanjiku and Peter Ngugi, will serve 30, 24, and 20 years in prison, respectively.
Continue reading...Pontiff says on peace mission that religious leaders ‘cannot remain neutral’ amid abuses of power
Pope Francis has said churches in South Sudan “cannot remain neutral” but must raise their voices against injustice and abuse of power, as he and two other Christian leaders conducted a peace mission to the world’s newest country.
On his first full day in South Sudan, Francis addressed Catholic bishops, priests and nuns in St Theresa Cathedral in the capital, Juba, as the archbishop of Canterbury and the head of the Church of Scotland held services elsewhere.
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