Category Archives: Africa

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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Food aid suspended in Ethiopia after ‘widespread and coordinated’ thievery

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UN and US halt food assistance in the country, where 20 million people rely on aid, in order to investigate ‘diversion’ of supplies

Food aid to Ethiopia has been suspended after the discovery that humanitarian supplies meant for people in need were being stolen.

The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday that it is halting food assistance while it rolled out “enhanced safeguards and controls that will ensure humanitarian food assistance reaches targeted, vulnerable people”. It comes a day after the US Agency for International Development (USAid) said it was doing the same, after a “countrywide review” uncovered “a widespread and coordinated campaign” that was diverting food assistance from Ethiopian people.

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Justin Welby criticises Ugandan church’s backing for anti-gay law

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Archbishop of Canterbury expresses dismay over church’s support for Ugandan law enacted last month

The archbishop of Canterbury has urged the Anglican church in Uganda to reconsider its vociferous support for the world’s harshest anti-LGBTQ+ law, which imposes the death penalty for certain homosexual acts.

Justin Welby said there was no justification for supporting the legislation, in a move that highlights deep divisions within the global Anglican church on LGBTQ+ issues.

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Russian man dies after being mauled by shark off Egyptian Red Sea resort

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Authorities close off 46-mile stretch of coastline after man attacked by tiger shark near Hurghada

A Russian man has died after being mauled by a shark off one of Egypt’s Red Sea resorts, Egyptian and Russian authorities have said.

Egypt’s environment ministry said the man was killed on Thursday after being attacked by a tiger shark in the waters near the city of Hurghada. Authorities closed off a 46-mile (74km) stretch of the coastline, announcing it would remain off-limits until Sunday.

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Ukraine and Myanmar make 2022 most violent year in a decade for medical staff

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Report demands accountability for war crimes and singles out Russia for ‘mind-boggling’ targeting of hospitals in Ukraine

Russian attacks on medical facilities in Ukraine made 2022 the most violent year in a decade for hospitals and health workers operating in conflict zones, according to a new report by a coalition of humanitarian organisations.

With 750 reported attacks in 2022, Russia set a 10-year record, according to the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition, which includes Human Rights Watch and the Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health.

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‘A watershed’: Meta ordered to offer mental health care to moderators in Kenya

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Trauma experienced by staff at Nairobi Facebook hub recognised in legal ruling that may have global implications

Meta has been ordered to “provide proper medical, psychiatric and psychological care” to a group of moderators in Nairobi following a ruling in a Kenyan employment court that heard harrowing testimony about the distressing nature of their work.

The instruction by judge Byram Ongaya formed part of a broader interim ruling that saw the moderators’ jobs restored after they sued Meta in March for what they termed a “sham” mass redundancy.

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UK government under fire for investing overseas aid in fossil fuel firms

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Taxpayer’s money also going to companies found to be flouting human rights in Kenya and DRC, says Commons committee

The UK government is under attack for investing taxpayers’ money in fossil fuel companies, a hospital in Kenya accused of imprisoning patients who couldn’t pay for treatment, and a business in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that exposed workers to dangerous chemicals and dumped untreated industrial waste.

MPs questioned the investments at a two-hour session in parliament on Tuesday, and excoriated Andrew Mitchell, minister for development, for making overseas aid available to a company owned by Africa’s richest man that is suspected of causing serious environmental damage.

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Sudan officials fear for historical artefacts threatened by fighting

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Warring factions urged to preserve heritage after video clip appears to show fighters raiding Khartoum museum

Heritage officials in Sudan have pleaded with warring factions to preserve tens of thousands of historical artefacts threatened by fighting in the capital, Khartoum, that is in its eighth week.

A video clip circulating on social media on Friday appeared to show fighters from the Rapid Support Forces entering the bioarchaeology lab of the National Museum in Khartoum and opening storage containers containing mummies and other remains.

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Sudan fighting escalates after breakdown in ceasefire talks

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The latest shaky truce between country’s army and RSF paramilitary came to an end on Saturday evening and has not been extended

Fighting has intensified in several areas of Khartoum after a ceasefire deal expired, residents of Sudan’s capital reported, as activists said a new outburst of violence in North Darfur state had left at least 40 people dead.

The ceasefire between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) began on 22 May and expired on Saturday evening.

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Uganda says 54 African Union peacekeepers killed in Somalia by al-Shabaab militants

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Death toll one of heaviest since pro-government forces launched offensive against jihadists last August

Fifty-four Ugandan peacekeepers died when militants besieged an African Union base in Somalia last week, Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, has said, in one of the worst recent attacks by al-Shabaab jihadists in the war-torn country.

“We discovered the lifeless bodies of 54 fallen soldiers, including a commander,” Museveni said in a Twitter post late on Saturday.

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Killer of three Israeli soldiers was Egyptian border police officer, says army

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Netanyahu calls deaths of three members of Israel Defence Forces on Sinai border a terrorist attack

A man who shot and killed three Israeli soldiers in a rare incident on the Sinai border with Egypt has been identified by the Israeli military as a member of the Egyptian border police.

Two Israel Defence Forces (IDF) combat soldiers were killed early on Saturday morning at a military post near Mount Harif, in the Negev desert, the army said. The discovery of their bodies a few hours later triggered a manhunt in which a third soldier was killed, as well as the assailant. A fourth Israeli soldier sustained minor injuries in the shootout.

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Police release e-fit of man found dead in wheel bay of Gatwick-bound plane

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Detectives hope to identify man, whose body was found on a Tui flight from the Gambia on 7 December

Police have released a digitised image of a man who was found dead in the undercarriage of a plane, as they work to identify him.

The man’s body was found on a Tui flight from the Gambia to the UK. His body was discovered at Gatwick airport at about 4am on 7 December, Sussex police said at the time.

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