Tanzania | AFP | The death toll from Sunday’s plane crash in Tanzania has jumped to 19, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said, after the Precision Air flight with dozens of passengers aboard plunged into Lake Victoria while approaching the northwestern city of Bukoba. “All Tanzanians are with you in mourning the 19 people who lost lives during this accident,” Majaliwa told a crowd after arriving at Bukoba airport, where the flight had been scheduled to […]
Africa
Death toll from Somalia twin bombings climbs to 100
by Mustafa HAJI ABDINUR Agence France-Presse MOGADISHU, Somalia (AFP) — The death toll from twin car bombings in the Somali capital Mogadishu, claimed by Al-Shabaab Islamists, has risen to 100, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said on Sunday, drawing condemnation from the country’s international allies. “So far, the number of people who died has reached 100 and 300 are wounded, and the number for both the death and wounded continues to increase,” he said after visiting […]
Rights group says hundreds massacred in Mali by Islamic State jihadists
Niamey, Niger | AFP | Armed groups affiliated with the Islamic State group have massacred hundreds of people in northeast Mali this year, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Thursday, adding the state was not doing enough to protect civilians. Tens of thousands of villagers from the Menaka and Gao regions have fled their homes after losing their livestock and belongings in attacks since March, the rights group said in a report. The abuses have […]
Residents on edge as Uganda reports Ebola cases in Kampala
Kampala, Uganda | AFP | by Grace Matsiko Uganda has reported 14 confirmed cases of Ebola in the greater Kampala region, the country’s health minister said Monday, but sought to assure anxious residents that the situation in the capital was under control. So far, the death toll across the country from the Ebola epidemic declared in late September has climbed to 44, according to World Health Organisation figures issued last week. Uganda’s health ministry […]
US terror alert in S.Africa ‘unfortunate’: Ramaphosa
Pretoria, South Africa | AFP | South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday said a warning by the US embassy of a possible weekend “terrorist” attack in the country’s financial hub in Johannesburg was “unfortunate”. “It is quite unfortunate the US issued that type of warning without having any type of discussion with us,” he said during a press conference. The US embassy on Wednesday posted the alert on its website and identified the potential […]
Thai doctor recounts Mali kidnap ordeal
Bangkok, Thailand | AFP | A Thai plastic surgeon on Thursday described drinking pond water to survive during three weeks of captivity at the hands of gun-toting kidnappers in Mali. Nopparat Rattanawaraha, who also runs a popular YouTube channel where he posts travel clips, returned to Thailand after being released on payment of a reported $150,000 ransom. The 49-year-old was back at work just a day after flying back to the kingdom, and recounted the […]
Burkina recruits 50,000 civilians to help battle jihadists
OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AFP) — Burkina Faso this week launched a drive to recruit 50,000 civilian defense volunteers to help the army fight jihadists, the authorities said. The country, one of the world’s poorest, has been battling a deadly jihadist insurgency since 2015. Burkina Faso has been rocked by two coups since the start of the year, with each new leader accusing the previous of having failed to quell the violence. Captain Ibrahim Traore was […]
HRW calls for sanctions on Ethiopia to protect civilians
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP | Human Rights Watch called Wednesday for targeted sanctions and an arms embargo against Ethiopia to help protect civilians as the country’s brutal war in Tigray intensifies. Addis Ababa on Tuesday said it had captured three towns in the northern region, where fighting between pro-government forces and rebels has raged since August after a truce collapsed. International concern is growing for those caught in the crossfire, with the UN describing […]
Show of force in Mozambique’s north, but jihadist threat remains
by Camille LAFFONT Agence France-Presse QUIONGA, Mozambique (AFP) — A column of brand-new armored vehicles is parked outside what remains of a government building in Quionga, a village in Mozambique’s restive northern province of Cabo Delgado. Kalashnikovs on their shoulders, Mozambican soldiers stare at the convoy — an unusual sight in this northern settlement, which just a year ago was controlled by Islamist insurgents who have wreaked havoc across the region. Senior Rwandan officers are […]
Calls for more funding as pre-COP27 climate talks open in DR Congo
by Annie Thomas Agence France-Presse KINSHASA, DR Congo (AFP) — Warning “no-one will escape” a worsening crisis, DR Congo led calls on Monday for a surge in funding to brake global heating and fight its impacts at the start of pre-COP27 climate talks in Kinshasa. The haggle comes ahead of COP27 — the UN’s 27th summit-level gathering on climate change, which is due to take place in Egypt next month. At opening ceremonies in the […]
DR Congo declares end to latest Ebola outbreak
Brazzaville, Congo (AFP) The Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday declared an end to an Ebola virus outbreak that emerged in eastern North Kivu province six weeks ago, the World Health Organization said. Only one case of the virus had been confirmed, according to a WHO statement, making the DRC’s Ebola outbreak its “least catastrophic”. Five people died during the previous outbreak — the central African nation’s 14th — which ended in July. Ebola […]
Power cuts to plunge South Africa into darkness
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — Africa’s most industrialised economy South Africa is again facing sweeping power cuts, caused by failures at ageing and poorly maintained infrastructure, the nationalised utility company said Sunday. Andre de Ruyter, the boss of state-owned Eskom, announced a series of planned outages in the coming week. Urging South Africans to use electricity sparingly, he called for office lights to be turned off at night, and for swimming pool pumps and […]