Paris, France | AFP | Monday 4/24/2023 Following the grim discovery in Kenya of the bodies of more than 50 suspected cult members believed to have starved themselves to death, we look at other notorious killer sects. – 914 dead, Guyana jungle apocalypse – In one of the most dramatic mass murder-suicides of modern history, 914 adults and children from a US cult died in the jungle of the small South American country of Guyana […]
Africa
Kenya’s Ruto vows action after 58 bodies linked to cult found
Malindi, Kenya | AFP | Monday 4/24/2023 by Yasuyoshi CHIBA Kenyan President William Ruto on Monday vowed to crack down on “unacceptable” religious movements as police discovered more fatalities in a cult that practised starvation, bringing the toll to 58. A major search is under way in a forest near the coastal town of Malindi where dozens of corpses were exhumed over the weekend, with authorities fearing more grisly discoveries could be made. A full-scale […]
Toll in Equatorial Guinea Marburg outbreak rises to 12
Malabo, Equatorial Guinea | AFP | Monday 4/24/2023 The death toll in Equatorial Guinea from an outbreak of Marburg virus, a cousin of Ebola haemorrhagic fever, has risen to 12, the health ministry said on Monday. The figures are a provisional toll based on lab-confirmed tests as of April 21, it said in an update, adding that 116 people were currently being monitored as contact risks. The first known deaths were documented on January 7 […]
South African rhino-lover seeks billionaire successor
by Claire DOYEN Agence France-Presse JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — He spent his vast fortune on a 30-year quest to save the rhinoceros. Today, at 81, his money is all but gone, and South African conservationist John Hume is throwing in the towel. Later this week, Hume will auction off his rhino farm — the world’s largest — to the highest bidder. “I’m left with nothing except 2,000 rhinos and 8,000 hectares (20,000 acres) of […]
Stench of death engulfs Sudan hospitals, but leaving is mortal danger
KHARTOUM, Sudan (AFP) — Ibrahim Mohamed turned in his hospital bed to find the patient next to him had died, but fighting that had erupted in Sudan’s capital hours earlier meant the body could not be moved. Battles since April 15 between the forces of two rival generals have turned Khartoum into a war zone, shuttering hospitals and preventing health professionals from providing care. By the time Mohamed, a 25-year-old leukemia patient, was finally evacuated […]
US government personnel evacuated from Sudan’s capital
The US military evacuated American embassy staff from Khartoum, President Joe Biden said late Saturday, calling for an end to the “unconscionable” fighting in Sudan’s capital between the army and a paramilitary group. “Today, on my orders, the United States military conducted an operation to extract US Government personnel from Khartoum,” Biden said in a statement, adding that the embassy was “temporarily suspending operations.” As the violence entered its second week, Biden pushed for an […]
UN humanitarian killed in crossfire in Sudan
The United Nations migration agency said that a staff member had been killed in fighting in southern Sudan on Friday when his vehicle was caught in crossfire. The humanitarian worker with the International Organization for Migration is the fourth UN member of staff killed since fighting erupted in Sudan on Saturday. Three employees of the World Food Programme (WFP) were killed in the North Darfur region of eastern Sudan. “It is with a heavy heart […]
Sudan deaths mount as army chief rules out talks
KHARTOUM, Sudan (AFP) — UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Thursday for a ceasefire in Sudan, as fighting between two rival generals showed no signs of abating ahead of festivities marking the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. The UN chief urged a truce of “at least three days” to mark Eid al-Fitr, which begins Friday, as explosions and gunfire resounded in Sudan’s capital for the sixth straight night. More than 300 people have […]
Analysis: Foreign players lurk as Sudan generals battle it out
Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Graphic Content Sudan has degenerated into a battleground for two rival generals, but they are backed by complex webs of international alliances with conflicting interests that could imperil the country’s future, analysts say. Missiles, air strikes and gunfire have been ceaseless in Khartoum since Saturday as army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan wages war with his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who leads the powerful Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group. […]
Thousands flee ‘bodies on the streets’ in battle-scarred Khartoum
Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Thousands of residents on Wednesday fled Sudan’s capital, where witnesses said bodies lay in the street from fighting between the army and paramilitaries after a 24-hour truce failed to take hold. Five days of fighting in Khartoum and elsewhere in the northeast African country have killed more than 270 civilians, foreign embassies said Wednesday. Foreign diplomats have been attacked, and United Nations emergency relief coordinator Martin Griffiths said the UN […]
Soaring food prices in S.Africa push inflation up
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Wednesday 4/19/2023 Inflation in South Africa edged higher in March with food prices recording the highest year-on-year jump in more than a decade, official figures showed Wednesday. Inflation for food and non-alcoholic beverages continued to accelerate and was up 14 percent on March last year, national statistics agency StatsSA said in a statement. “This represents the largest annual increase since the 14.7% rise in March 2009,” the agency said. […]
Soaring prices pressure Morocco’s agriculture model
by Ismail Bellaouali Agence France-Presse RABAT, Morocco (AFP) — Soaring inflation in Morocco is driving up living costs and stirring public anger, and as food prices increase the country’s export-led agricultural model is coming under fire. On April 8, protesters gathered outside parliament in the capital Rabat, with some saying “The rise in prices is a disgrace” and: “We’re an agricultural country but vegetables are too expensive.” Official figures from February put year-on-year inflation in […]
