Category Archives: Africa

Two women rescued nine years after Chibok schoolgirls abduction

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Hauwa Maltha and Esther Marcus, both now 26, were among 276 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram in Nigeria

Two Nigerian women abducted as schoolgirls by a jihadi militant group nine years ago have been rescued, the west African nation’s military has said. One had a one-year-old baby, while the second gave birth to her second child days after being freed.

Hauwa Maltha and Esther Marcus, both 26, were among 276 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram militants in April 2014 from the government girls’ secondary school in the village of Chibok.

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Sudan’s neighbours have little to offer refugees, warns UN

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Thousands of Sudanese are crossing borders into countries already severely stressed by drought, conflicts and food insecurity, say UN officials

The UN is in a race against time to get food supplies to Sudanese refugees crossing the border into Chad before the rainy season begins, as neighbouring countries struggle to cope with the numbers of people fleeing the civil war.

More than 110,000 people are now estimated to have crossed into other countries as patchy ceasefires fail to stop deadly clashes between Sudanese army troops and a paramilitary rival that have killed hundreds and forced more than 330,000 from their homes.

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Child marriage in decline – but will take 300 years to eliminate

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UN children’s agency welcomes drop in number of underage brides, but warns 12 million girls still getting married each year

The number of child marriages is declining worldwide, but at too slow a pace for any hope of eliminating the practice this century, Unicef, the UN children’s agency, has said.

In a new report, Unicef tentatively welcomed the reduction but warned that it was nowhere close to meeting its sustainable development goal of ridding the world of the practice by 2030.

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‘Not safe for us’: Sudanese in north Africa warn fleeing relatives of danger

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People who sought route to Europe before fighting erupted in Khartoum speak of police brutality, torture and homelessness

Ever since fighting erupted in his home town of Nyala, the state capital of South Darfur in Sudan, in mid-April, Khaled’s mobile phone has not stopped ringing. Family members, friends and acquaintances want to know how to reach north Africa and which country is best for departing for Europe.

The 17-year-old, currently living in the Tunisian capital, Tunis, wishes he could tell them that the journey is simple and that countries like Tunisia and Libya are welcoming and safe.

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Fighting intensifies in Sudan’s capital as US warns of new sanctions

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Clashes continue around presidential palace in Khartoum despite international calls to end hostilities

Fighting in Sudan has intensified as warring factions seek to secure strategic locations, as pressure grows from international powers to end hostilities and allow humanitarian assistance to reach millions of desperate civilians.

Fierce battles on Thursday between the Sudanese army and its paramilitary opponents, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), reminded residents in Khartoum, the capital, of the fierce combat that marked the first days of the war almost three weeks ago.

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Britons trapped in Sudan say relatives were not allowed on flights

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Foreign Office accused of creating ‘confusion’ during evacuation, with some struggling to get visas or prove citizenship

British people trapped in Sudan have described being forced to make impossible choices about whether to fly home without family members the UK government will not allow on flights.

Suleiman, a British national who asked to withhold his family name, said a British official had called him to say he could be evacuated with his two children only if he left his pregnant wife behind. His children are also British nationals, and their mother is a Sudanese citizen.

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Aid agencies in Sudan plead with factions to allow supplies to reach needy

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Six trucks of humanitarian supplies looted while airstrikes in Khartoum undermine ceasefire

Aid agencies are pleading with battling factions in Sudan to allow humanitarian assistance to reach the needy, after six trucks of humanitarian supplies were looted and airstrikes in Khartoum undermined a new ceasefire.

Martin Griffiths, the UN’s emergency relief coordinator, said on Wednesday he was seeking assurances that would allow for movement of staff and supplies.

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At least 115 dead in Rwanda after heavy rains trigger floods and mudslides

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State-run broadcaster says flood waters still rising in northern and western provinces and warns death toll may rise

At least 115 people have died as floods and mudslides swept through northern and western Rwanda after torrential rains, according to the state-run broadcaster, which warned that the toll could rise.

“The rain that fell last night caused disaster in the northern and western provinces,” the Rwanda Broadcasting Agency (RBA) said on its website on Wednesday.

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Last UK rescue flight from Sudan to take off on Wednesday

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Foreign secretary says there will be no further British evacuation flights from wartorn Port Sudan

The final UK rescue flight from Sudan is expected to take off on Wednesday, the government has said.

The foreign secretary, James Cleverly, said British nationals who wanted to leave the country need to make their way to the Coral hotel in Port Sudan by 10am local time (9am BST), adding that there would be no further British evacuation flights from the city.

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Six Libyans face death penalty for converting to Christianity

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Religious laws are increasingly being used to silence civil society and human rights groups, say activists

Six Libyans are facing the death penalty for converting to Christianity and proselytising under laws increasingly being used to silence civil society and human rights organisations, say activists.

The women and men – some from Libya’s minority ethnic groups, including the Amazigh, or Berbers, in the west of the country – were separately detained in March by security forces.

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Final UK evacuation flight from Sudan expected to leave on Wednesday

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James Cleverly urges British nationals still wanting to leave the war-torn nation to make their way to Port Sudan

The final UK evacuation flight is expected to take off from Sudan on Wednesday, the foreign secretary has announced.

James Cleverly urged British nationals still wanting to leave the war-torn nation to make their way to Port Sudan.

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Kenyan cult leader accused of inciting children to starve to death

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Paul Nthenge Mackenzie faces charges of terrorism, murder, kidnapping and cruelty towards children

A Kenyan religious cult leader accused of inciting followers to starve to death is facing additional charges including terrorism and child trafficking.

Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, who set up the Good News International Church in 2003, appeared in court in Malindi on Tuesday.

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Khartoum hospitals being hit as Sudan fighting intensifies

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Several people killed outside East Nile hospital as civilian groups step in to help people caught in conflict

Fierce street fighting, including the use of heavy weaponry and artillery fire, has consumed central Khartoum as worsening violence tests a deteriorating ceasefire.

Volleys of airstrikes and sounds of gunfire were audible in Khartoum’s twin city, Omdurman, overnight as clashes raged throughout the capital, and were particularly heavy in areas around major government and military infrastructure in the city centre.

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Uganda’s parliament passes mostly unchanged anti-LGBTQ bill

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Bill retains harshest measures of legislation adopted in March, including death penalty for certain same-sex acts

Uganda’s parliament has passed a mostly unchanged version of one of the world’s strictest anti-LGBTQ+ bills after President Yoweri Museveni asked that certain provisions from the original legislation be toned down.

Despite four amendments, the bill retains most of the harshest measures of the legislation adopted in March. Those include the death penalty for certain same-sex acts and a 20-year sentence for “promoting” homosexuality, which activists say could criminalise any advocacy for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer citizens.

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Pneumonia vaccine delays kill thousands needlessly in Africa

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Access to PCV jabs in South Sudan, Somalia, Guinea and Chad ‘could save 40,000 children a year’

Delays in rolling out a vaccine against childhood pneumonia in four of the world’s poorest countries have been blamed for thousands of unnecessary deaths.

South Sudan, Somalia, Guinea and Chad are four of the last African nations without the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV), one of the most powerful tools against pneumonia in children.

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Europe warily eyes security implications of a protracted conflict in Sudan

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Long dispute creates unwanted uncertainties as increased migration and outside actors enter the conflict

Fears remain that Sudan – riven by fighting between the Sudanese army and its paramilitary rival, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – could plunge into a protracted crisis, prompting a humanitarian disaster with broad geopolitical implications.

A string of failed or divided states already exist on Europe’s peripheries, a crescent of instability that stretches from the African Sahel, Libya, through to Yemen, Syria, and north into Ukraine, three countries where extended wars have been raging.

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Medics in Sudan warn of crisis as health system near collapse

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Critical shortages of basic goods including water, and bodies piling in streets creating ‘environmental catastrophe’

Sudanese medics have described seeing piles of bodies in the streets of the capital, Khartoum, people drinking polluted water, and doctors working under bombardments as the battle between the country’s two warring generals continues despite a threadbare ceasefire.

Intense explosions and shelling were audible in Omdurman, Khartoum’s twin city across the Nile, on Monday and there were reports of further explosions and clashes in the Bahri and Kafouri districts of Khartoum North. In the south of Khartoum, residents reported that the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) fired anti-aircraft missiles in response to bombardments by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).

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UK forces to oversee another evacuation flight from Sudan

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Unclear whether all British evacuees will be able to reach Port Sudan, more than 500 miles from Khartoum

British forces will oversee an additional evacuation flight out of Sudan as fighting continues to rage in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.

British passport holders, as well as doctors with leave to remain in the UK and their dependents, were told to arrive at Port Sudan international airport on the Red Sea coast before midday local time (11am BST).

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Sudan rivals trade blame as fighting continues despite ceasefire extension

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New UN envoy to the region warns that humanitarian situation is ‘reaching breaking point’

Sudan’s rival military forces have accused each other of violating a fresh ceasefire as the deadly conflict rumbles on for a third week despite warnings of a slide towards civil war.

Both sides said a formal ceasefire agreement that was due to expire at midnight would be extended for a further 72 hours. The army said it hoped what it called the “rebels” would abide by the deal but it believed they had intended to keep up attacks. The parties have kept fighting through a series of ceasefires over the past week.

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UK government extends Sudan evacuation with additional flight

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FCDO asks any British nationals hoping to leave war-torn country to reach airport in Port Sudan by noon local time on Monday

The UK government has announced plans to carry out an additional evacuation flight from Sudan on Monday, after previously suggesting that efforts to bring British nationals out of the war-torn country had concluded.

In a statement on Sunday, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) urged any UK nationals still hoping to leave Sudan to make their way to the airport in Port Sudan, on the Red Sea coast, by noon local time (11am BST) on 1 May.

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