Zimbabwe declared a state of disaster Wednesday (Apr. 03) over a devastating drought that's sweeping across much of southern Africa. Zimbabwean president Emmerson Mnangagwa president said the nation needs $2 billion for humanitarian assistance. "Due to the El Nino-induced drought … more than 80% of our country received below normal rainfall,"...
The semi-autonomous state of Puntland says it has withdrawn from the country's federal system and will govern itself independently until constitutional amendments passed by the central government in Somalia are approved in a nationwide referendum. On Saturday, the federal parliament in Mogadishu approved several constitutional changes that th...
Ethiopia will repatriate some 70,000 of its nationals living in Saudi Arabia starting early April. State Minister Birtukan Ayano said the repatriation, the third such programme since 2018, will target "Ethiopians who are in a difficult situation". During the announcement last week the minister didn't specify whether the returnees have been li...
Delicately and with intense concentration, Zanyiwe Ncube poured her small share of precious golden cooking oil into a plastic bottle at a food aid distribution site deep in rural Zimbabwe. Her relief at the handout paid for by the U.S. government as her southern African country deals with a severe drought was tempered when aid workers gently ...
Somalia has long suffered from food insecurity. Years of civil war, frequent droughts and recent flooding have led to malnutrition. However, a new crop of young and ambitious farmers and agricultural entrepreneurs are driving an agricultural revolution by introducing modern agricultural practices. Simple greenhouses allow farmers to produce f...
A bus carrying worshippers plunged off a bridge on a mountain pass killing at least 45 people with only one surviving, authorities in South Africa said Thursday (Mar. 28). According to the Limpopo provincial government, the bus veered off the Mmamatlakala bridge and plunged 50 meters into a ravine before busting into flames. Authorities said ...
Activists and opposition leaders in Togo called on Wednesday (Mar. 27) for protests to stop the country's president from signing off on a new constitution that would scrap future presidential elections and could see Faure Gnassingbé extend his rule. The constitution, which was passed by the country's lawmakers earlier this week but now awaits...
A Nigerian court on Tuesday sentenced a Chinese national to death after finding him guilty of killing his girlfriend, a government official told The Associated Press, vowing to recommend execution if he unsuccessfully appeals the ruling. Frank Geng-Quangrong was convicted by a local court in northern Nigeria's economic hub of Kano state, Kano Justi...
Moroccans got to explore the work of artists from the other side of the globe at an art show featuring works by 23 Cuban artists. Titled "From the other side of the Atlantic: Cuban Art," the event is a chance to delve into Cuban art. Abdelaziz el-Idrissi, the curator of the Rabat museum hosting the event, said the idea behind it was to bring ...
In Dakar, supporters of presidential candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye didn't wait for official results to start celebrating late Sunday (Mar. 23). In the hundreds of thousands, they flooded the streets of the capital relying only on early trends. Crowds backing the protégé's of Ousmane Sonko gathered here at the headquarters of the Diomaye pre...
After months of procrastination and uncertainty, the Senegalese are finally going to vote in the country's presidential election. Some 7.3 million voters will go to the polls this Sunday March 24 to elect a new leader. They will have to choose between 19 candidates. Those 19 contenders include Amadou Ba of the ruling coalition, chosen by Pres...
Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) who are fighting the country's armed forces have rejected an agreement between the nation's military government and UN agencies to deliver humanitarian aid into the war-torn Darfur region. This comes after the Governor of the region announced a new route to deliver humanitarian aid to the weste...
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has reported fresh cases of Lassa fever, along with 20 deaths spanning 16 states over the course of one week, from February 26 to March 3. During the ninth week of 2024, the NCDC observed a rise in confirmed cases, with 96 cases recorded in the previous week. Lassa fever is a severe...
Senegal's only female presidential candidate may stand little to no chance of winning in Sunday's election, but activists say her presence alone is helping to advance a decadeslong campaign to achieve gender equality in the West African nation. Anta Babacar Ngom, a 40-year-old business executive, is a voice for both women and young people — g...
South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) is suing the independent electoral body and a rival political party led by a former president, highlighting divisions ahead of what could be the most crucial election of the last 30 years in the country. The ANC says the new uMkhonto weSizwe ( Spear of the Nation ) party did not meet regis...
Congolese journalist Stanis Bujakera was set to be freed soon after a court found him guilty and sentenced him Monday to six months in prison for spreading false information among other charges, according to media freedom group Reporters Without Borders. He was expected to be released hours or days after the verdict, having already served mor...
Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni praised Sunday the role her country played in what she described as a "new model of cooperation between Europe and the southern shore of the Mediterranean." Meloni was speaking in Cairo upon the signing of an aid package deal between the European Union and Egypt, which she lauded it as "historic." "It is ...
Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Angolan President Joao Lourenco in Beijing on Friday. Xi extended warm welcome to Lourenco, calling him as an old friend of the Chinese people. "China-Angola relations have withstood the test of the changing international landscape, and forged ahead, which has really benefited the people of the two...
The city of Buhozi in the Kabare territory of South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), near the Rwanda border, has once again fallen victim to landslides over the past two days. This new disaster has affected the Ruzizi River and the Nyamagana hill in the DRC. Local civil society is calling for enhanced security measures to prevent...
Doctors at Kenya's public hospitals began a nationwide strike Thursday, accusing the government of failing to implement a raft of promises from a collective bargaining agreement signed in 2017 after a 100-day strike that saw people dying from lack of care. The Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union said they went on strike to de...
