Category Archives: Africa

‘A revolution is building’: can young people force change across Africa?

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Africa has the youngest population of any continent, and recent protests in Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda suggest growing youth disillusionment. Will they be able to turn discontent into action?

The youth-led protests that have broken out in several African countries over the past weeks should, say observers, serve as warnings that a disillusioned generation blame the elders of the ruling political classes for missed economic opportunities.

From mid-June to early August, young people in Kenya hit the streets protesting against what they described as runaway corruption and high taxes levied by President William Ruto’s regime. In Uganda, what was shaping up as protests against the government in July were nipped in the bud by police after President Yoweri Museveni’s warning that those thinking of such protests “were playing with fire”. Nigeria saw short-lived protests against the poor handling of the economy by President Bola Tinubu’s government.

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Libya’s central bank ‘suspends operations’ after official abducted

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Head of IT was kidnapped in Tripoli and other executives threatened a week after siege at bank

The Central Bank of Libya said on Sunday it was “suspending all operations” after a bank official was abducted in the capital, Tripoli, in a statement posted on social media.

Musab Msallem, the head of information technology at the Central Bank, “was kidnapped by an unidentified group from his house this morning”, the statement said.

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Failure to deal with mpox outbreak ‘is risk not just to Africa but whole world’

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Health leaders warn that global response to virus is test case for equity and preparation for future pandemics

A failure to show solidarity with African countries at the heart of the mpox outbreak will put the world at risk and harm preparations for future pandemics, health leaders have said.

The World Health Organization on Wednesday declared an international public health emergency in the face of rising cases that are spreading beyond the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where the virus is endemic.

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Mpox screening stepped up globally as more cases emerge outside Africa

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The move comes amid reports of disappointing results from trials for a treatment against the variant behind the current outbreak

Surveillance efforts against mpox are being ramped up globally, as trials for a new treatment showed disappointing results against the variant driving the current outbreak.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) on Friday raised its risk level assessment for mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, from low to moderate. The decision came after Sweden reported the first case of clade Ib outside Africa.

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Global health charities warn of ‘huge and terrible’ threat to abortion rights if Trump returns

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‘Global gag rule’ and funding cuts will be ‘on different scale’ if Republicans win again, family-planning providers say

Providers of women’s healthcare around the world are preparing for potentially disastrous consequences should Donald Trump win the US presidential election in November.

Policies pursued during Trump’s last presidency caused “devastating” harm in a number of countries, said Beth Schlachter, a senior director at MSI Reproductive Choices in the US. It meant “clinics shuttered, health teams closed, women dying … but a second Trump term will be on a different scale”.

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Mpox: Sweden confirms first case of ‘more grave’ variant outside Africa

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Clade I case comes after World Health Organization declares a global public health emergency

Sweden confirmed its first case of the more contagious variant of mpox, a viral infection that spreads through close contact, marking the first time it has been found outside Africa.

The person was infected while in a part of Africa where there was a large outbreak of the disease, Olivia Wigzell, director-general at the Swedish public health agency, told a press conference.

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‘A violation’: Kenyan town removes athlete statues after uproar about unrecognisable features

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Eldoret forced to remove statues of runners deemed a poorly done ‘joke’ on eve of event to confer city status on town

Authorities in a Kenyan town known for its athletics prowess rushed to remove statues of runners on Wednesday night that some people had deemed shoddy, on the eve of an event to confer city status on the municipality.

The Rift Valley town of Eldoret, home to many great runners, had earlier this week put up a number of thematic pieces of art to showcase its agricultural and sports heritage. The sculptures included statues of athletes and one of a maize cob next to a wheat stalk.

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‘Enforced disappearances’ send a chill through Kenya’s protests

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Dozens are reported as having gone missing since demonstrations began, and some have turned up dead

One mid-morning in June, Emmanuel Kamau prepared to leave his home for work as a bus conductor in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

It was the second week of nationwide protests against proposed tax increases, and demonstrations were expected to disrupt the transport network. But as a casual worker who got jobs on an irregular basis, the 24-year-old decided to take a chance to try to earn some money to put food on the table.

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Mpox outbreak in Africa is public health emergency, declares WHO

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Outbreak resembles early days of HIV, say experts, urging accelerated access to vaccines and testing

An outbreak in Africa of mpox, the disease formerly known as monkeypox, resembles the early days of HIV, scientists have said, as the World Health Organization declared it a public health emergency.

The declaration must accelerate access to testing, vaccines and therapeutic drugs in the affected areas, medical experts urged, and kickstart campaigns to reduce stigma surrounding the virus.

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At least 68 people killed in flooding as rains worsen Sudan’s plight

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About 27,000 people displaced by heaviest rainfall since 2019 in country already hit by civil war and famine

Heavy rains in Sudan have killed dozens of people, compounding hardship in a country that is already facing multiple crises.

At least 68 people have been killed in Sudan as a result of rains that have plagued different parts of the country this year, the interior ministry said.

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Half a billion children live in areas with twice as many very hot days as in 1960s

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Unicef analysis also finds children in eight countries spend more than half the year in temperatures above 35C

Almost half a billion children are growing up in parts of the world where there are at least twice the number of extremely hot days every year compared with six decades ago, analysis by Unicef has found.

The analysis by the UN’s children’s agency examined for the first time data on changes in children’s exposure to extreme heat over the past 60 years.

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Africa CDC declares mpox outbreak a public health emergency

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Democratic Republic of the Congo hard-hit by virus, with death toll on continent above 1,450 since 2022

The African Union’s health watchdog has declared a public health emergency over the growing mpox outbreak on the continent, saying the move is a “clarion call for action”.

The outbreak has swept through several African countries, particularly the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where the virus formerly called monkeypox was first discovered in humans in 1970.

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Ex-LRA commander convicted of crimes against humanity in landmark Ugandan trial

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Court to sentence Thomas Kwoyelo for 44 offences committed during militia’s 20-year rebellion and reign of terror

A former commander in the feared Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has been convicted of crimes against humanity after the first such war crimes trial in Uganda.

Thomas Kwoyelo, who faced 78 counts related to crimes committed during the LRA’s bloody two-decade rebellion, had been waiting for years behind bars for a verdict in the landmark case.

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Sudanese factions using starvation as weapon is ‘cowardice’, US envoy says

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Tom Perriello condemns tactics of Rapid Support Forces and Sudanese military before peace talks in Geneva

The US special envoy for Sudan has accused the two factions in the country’s civil war of “cowardice” before crucial peace talks that are due to start on Wednesday.

Tom Perriello told the Guardian that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese military “lacked courage and honour” because of their continued use of starvation as a weapon.

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Tanzania opposition leaders and supporters arrested in crackdown

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Senior Chadema party figures including vice-chair detained as well as about 400 people heading to youth gathering

Police in Tanzania have arrested leaders of the country’s main opposition party and hundreds of its supporters in a crackdown that started at the weekend.

Police detained Tundu Lissu, the vice-chair of the Chadema party and a former presidential candidate, as well as the party’s secretary general, John Mnyika, before a gathering in the country’s south-west.

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US, Qatar and Egypt call on Israel and Hamas to resume urgent ceasefire talks

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Joint statement says framework agreement is ‘on the table’ and there are no excuses ‘from any party for further delay’

The leaders of the US, Egypt and Qatar have called on Israel and Hamas to resume urgent negotiations to finalise a ceasefire and hostage release deal, saying there were no excuses “from any party for further delay”.

The three countries, which have been trying to mediate a deal, said in a joint statement the talks could take place in either Doha or Cairo on 15 August, adding that it was “time to bring immediate relief both to the longsuffering people of Gaza as well as the longsuffering hostages and their families”.

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Mpox outbreak puts Africa on brink of official public health emergency

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African disease control centre urges ‘collective and collaborative approach’ after cases rise by 160% in a year

The head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said the agency is likely to declare a continental public health emergency over the growing mpox outbreak.

The Africa CDC’s director general, Dr Jean Kaseya, said on Thursday that because of the increase in mpox cases and its continued spread across borders, he had resolved to start “active engagement” with African Union member states to prevent the outbreak from becoming “another pandemic”.

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Miss South Africa contestant withdraws after mother is accused of identity theft

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National government is investigating Chidimma Adetshina, who had faced a public furore over her citizenship

A South African beauty pageant contestant has withdrawn from the competition after the government accused her mother of fraud and identity theft, following questions over the contestant’s citizenship.

Chidimma Adetshina, 23, said she had made the “difficult decision” to protect herself and her family before the Miss South Africa final on Saturday, and a day after the home affairs ministry said her mother may have stolen a South African woman’s identity.

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Miss South Africa contest in turmoil as finalist’s mother accused of fraud

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South African government joins row over Chidimma Adetshina’s heritage with suggestion mother may have committed identity theft

South Africa’s national beauty pageant has been thrown into turmoil, after the government accused the mother of a contestant who suffered a torrent of online abuse over her Nigerian heritage of fraud and identity theft.

Chidimma Adetshina, 23, has been the subject of vicious, xenophobic attacks on social media since she was announced as a finalist in Miss South Africa in July, with many, including cabinet ministers, questioning her credentials.

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Oilfield slowdown exposes political volatility in Libya and beyond

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Apparent shutdown attempt shows potential for some leaders to use such threats to enforce personal agenda

The political complexities of Libya’s oil industry were highlighted at the weekend when allies of the warlord Khalifa Haftar were said to have tried to shut down a Spanish-operated oilfield in reprisal for an arrest warrant issued by Spain for his son over alleged weapons smuggling.

Saddam Haftar, a key military figure in his father’s self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), was detained at an airport in Naples, Italy, for an hour on Friday after his name appeared on a common EU database. Those close to Haftar say he was questioned by Italian officials in relation to Spanish allegations, but insist he was never arrested.

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