Officials say all seven people onboard killed, including Telemundo executive and Ecuador intelligence chief
Seven people, including five Americans, were killed when a safari helicopter crashed on Wednesday morning in a remote part of northern Kenya, according to local police and the state department.
Among the dead were an executive with Telemundo, the US-based Spanish-language network owned by NBC Universal, and the director of Ecuador’s national intelligence service.
Continue reading...Analysis of samples collected from carcasses found traces of toxic chemical compound, says Kenya Wildlife Service
The recent deaths of 15 elephants near a park in southern Kenya in the past month were likely caused by the animals ingesting pesticides used on nearby tomato farms, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has said.
Erustus Kanga, the agency’s director general, told Citizen TV that analysis of samples collected from the carcasses had found traces of cyanide, a chemical compound used in farming as a predator control poison and a pest fumigant, which has also been used by poachers.
Continue reading...Potential toxic substance detected in several of 15 elephants found dead in Kenya’s Amboseli national park
Officials are investigating the deaths of 15 elephants over the past month in Kenya’s Amboseli national park.
The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said 10 of the elephants showed signs of partial paralysis before dying within two days.
Continue reading...September exercise called off after Kenya raises concerns over funding and jurisdiction for criminal offences
The British army has been forced to cancel training for its troops in Kenya after the Kenyan government refused to ratify a bilateral defence agreement.
While the UK government wanted to renew the existing agreement, Kenyan lawmakers had sought changes to give local authorities greater powers to hold British soldiers accountable for any offences committed in the country.
Continue reading...Aid workers are first known people to quarantine at facility, which sparked huge opposition in Kenya
Seven American aid workers who had been in Congo to fight the Ebola outbreak are quarantining at a new isolation facility in Kenya after the US government introduced travel restrictions, the head of a US charity employing them told Reuters.
The aid workers are the first known people to quarantine at the facility, which has sparked huge opposition in Kenya and is at the heart of a legal case in which a court has ordered the work to be suspended. Construction continued, however, according to US officials and satellite imagery reviewed by Reuters.
Continue reading...Decision comes after Aden Duale was held in contempt for ignoring previous high court ruling to stop work
Kenya’s health minister told a court he had ordered preparations for a US-run Ebola quarantine facility to stop, after being held in contempt for ignoring a previous order to end work.
Many Kenyans strongly oppose the facility, with deadly protests erupting since the complex was announced in May for US citizens evacuated from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is grappling with a widespread Ebola outbreak.
Continue reading...Plan departs from policy of bringing CDC staff back to US for treatment and offering support to all health workers
Former top US officials and other experts are urging the Trump administration to abandon plans for an Ebola quarantine and treatment centre in Kenya, as the union for workers with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) calls for Americans exposed to Ebola to be brought home for treatment.
Soon after the US revealed it was setting up a field hospital in Kenya for the Ebola quarantine and treatment of Americans, the Kenyan high court blocked the order – but the Kenyan and US governments moved forward anyway, with the first American responders reportedly landing at the Laikipia airbase on Saturday.
Continue reading...Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus calls for ceasefire among armed groups to help avoid deaths from preventable disease
The death rate of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is between 30% and 50%, the World Health Organization has said, as its head arrived in the country to support efforts to contain the disease.
Anaïs Legand, from the WHO’s high threat pathogens team, said the revised death rate estimate is based on confirmed cases. “It’s huge. It means that up to five out of 10 people are likely to die,” Legand told reporters in Geneva.
Continue reading...Parents face anxious wait for updates after blaze tears through Utumishi girls academy in Gilgil, Nakuru county
A fire has ripped through a dormitory at a girls’ school in Kenya’s Rift valley, killing at least 16 students.
The fire broke out just after midnight at Utumishi girls academy in Gilgil, Nakuru county, about 76 miles north-west of Nairobi, police said.
Continue reading...Some experts criticize White House approach and say not allowing Americans to return to US hurts treatment efforts
The Trump administration is building a quarantine and treatment center in Kenya for Americans affected by the Ebola outbreak, instead of bringing them home.
The White House on Wednesday confirmed that the US was setting up a facility in Kenya for Americans to quarantine after Ebola exposure in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Continue reading...More than 2,200 ants were found in Zhang Kequn’s luggage at Nairobi airport, with baggage destined for China
A Chinese national has been sentenced to a year in prison and fined by a Nairobi court for attempting to smuggle thousands of ants out of Kenya, a lucrative trade in east Africa that was exposed last year.
The insects are mostly destined for China, the US and Europe, where they become pets and can be worth about $100 each.
Continue reading...A huge rise in internet users under the age of 30 has fuelled an increase in online violence against women and girls with devastating real-life effects, activists say
Activists and lawyers in Africa are calling for urgent action to protect women, girls and boys as digital violence surges across the continent.
A massive rise in internet users, coupled with huge numbers of people aged under 30, has fuelled an increase in gendered online violence across the continent, according to experts, by giving perpetrators new tools to control and silence women and girls, and influence boys.
Continue reading...The perpetrators were jailed for 15 years for robbery with violence in the east African country, where homophobic attacks are increasing
The sentencing of two people who attacked and robbed two gay men in Kenya has been hailed by LGBTQ+ rights advocates as a breakthrough and a sign of hope for the country’s queer community. “Abel Meli & Another” were sentenced to 15 years in prison for robbery with violence on 3 March at Milimani law courts in Nairobi.
The ruling is a rare example of justice being served for the queer community in Kenya. Njeri Gateru, the executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, an independent human rights institution working towards equality for sexual and gender minorities in Kenya, said: “A lot is going against [the queer community] with the existence of the criminal laws and prevailing homophobic attitudes, but some of us still trust that we can find justice, so this case encourages us.”
Continue reading...Reports highlight devastating impact of slashed funding, especially in parts of Africa, that could lead to 3.3m new HIV infections by 2030
In Mozambique, a teenage rape victim sought care at a health clinic only to find it closed. In Zimbabwe, Aids-related deaths have risen for the first time in five years. In Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), patients with suspected HIV went undiagnosed due to test-kit stocks running out.
Stories of the devastating impact of US, British and wider European aid cuts on the fight against HIV – particularly in sub-Saharan Africa – continue to mount as 2025 comes to an end, and are set out in a series of reports released in the past week.
Continue reading...Exclusive: In the year they announced record profits, Britain’s arms maker has revoked licence to fly for planes taking supplies of food to starving people in South Sudan, Somalia and DRC
Britain’s biggest weapons manufacturer, BAE Systems, has quietly scrapped support for a fleet of aircraft providing “life-saving” humanitarian aid to some of the world’s poorest countries.
The decision further reduces the distribution of vital aid to countries facing serious humanitarian crises, including South Sudan, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Continue reading...Thousands gather in Nairobi to pay respects to veteran opposition leader, prompting chaotic scenes at stadium
Four people have been killed in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, after security forces fired shots and teargas to disperse huge crowds at a stadium where the body of the opposition leader Raila Odinga was lying in state.
Odinga, a major figure in Kenyan politics for decades who was once a political prisoner and ran unsuccessfully for president five times, died on Wednesday aged 80 in India, where he had been receiving medical treatment.
Continue reading...Esther Njoki says family has seen ‘big change’ under Labour, after long fight for justice over aunt’s 2012 death in Kenya
The niece of Agnes Wanjiru, who was killed in Kenya, said she hopes the former British soldier charged with her aunt’s murder will be extradited while the Labour government is still in power.
On her first trip outside Kenya, Esther Njoki travelled to London, where she was invited to parliament to meet the defence secretary, John Healey, whom she urged not to delay the potentially years-long extradition process.
Continue reading...Odinga, who ran five times for presidency and had profound influence on Kenyan politics, has died in India
The veteran Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga, who ran five times for the presidency and had a profound influence on the country’s politics, has died aged 80 in India.
Odinga was in the southern city of Kochi for treatment. The Press Trust of India news agency reported that he had a cardiac arrest during a morning walk.
Continue reading...Pair had crossed border to support presidential campaign of reggae singer Bobi Wine
Two Kenyan activists have been abducted in Uganda after attending a presidential campaign event for Bobi Wine, the reggae musician turned politician.
Heavily armed security operatives detained Bob Njagi, the chair of Free Kenya, and Nicholas Oyoo, the movement’s secretary general, at a petrol station near Kampala on Wednesday afternoon.
Continue reading...After 13 years, warrant has been issued for UK suspect, but Robert James Purkiss would need to be extradited to face charges
In the spring of 2012, David Cameron was prime minister and British troops were still fighting in Afghanistan under the stewardship of the then defence secretary, Philip Hammond.
Before deploying, soldiers from the UK would be flown 3,000 miles south-west of Helmand province, to Kenya, for hot weather training. They would train at Batuk, the British army base that still operates today, close to Nanyuki, a poor market town in the east of the country.
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