AFRICA

Backed by fresh European financing, BioNTech’s Kigali facility is emerging as the cornerstone of Africa’s mRNA vaccine ecosystem, bridging the gap between ambition and large-scale production. SPECIAL REPORT | BIRD AGENCY | A new European financial backing of BioNTech’s mRNA vaccine facility in Kigali marks a defining step in Africa’s …

CAPE TOWN | Xinhua |  An outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) is taking a devastating toll on seabirds along South Africa’s coastline, with hundreds of birds affected since the first cases were confirmed earlier this year, a local conservation group said on Monday. The Southern African Foundation for …

DAR ES SALAAM | Xinhua | Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan was sworn in on Monday for a five-year term, after she secured 97.66 percent of the vote in the recent general elections. Hassan, representing the ruling party Chama Cha Mapinduzi, was sworn in by Chief Justice George Masaju during …

Luanda Summit signals a historic shift toward continental self-reliance in development funding NEWS ANALYSIS | RONALD MUSOKE | In Luanda, the Angolan capital, where the Atlantic Ocean breeze carries both the promise of prosperity and the weight of unmet potential, African leaders gathered there recently for a defining conversation about the …

CAIRO | Xinhua |  After two decades of construction, Egypt on Saturday inaugurated the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) — the world’s largest museum dedicated to a single civilization — during a grand ceremony held near the pyramids and the Sphinx, marking a landmark cultural event for the country renowned for …

CAIRO, EGYPT | Xinhua | The capital of Sudan’s North Darfur State, El Fasher, has fallen to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) following the withdrawal of the national army — a major turning point in the country’s two-and-a-half-year civil war that has intensified fears of a worsening humanitarian catastrophe. …

KHARTOUM | Xinhua | Along the rugged road stretching between the city of El Fasher and the town of Tawila in Sudan’s North Darfur lay a landscape heavy with pain and disbelief. Thousands of civilians — barefoot, weary, and silent — carried what little remains of their lives as they …

In a bold move to attract investors, Botswana is rolling out one of the world’s most affordable citizenship-by-investment programmes, positioning its passport as a resource for economic empowerment. It marks an ambitious strategy to help protect the country’s future as its emblematic diamond sector faces insecurity. Furthermore, it could define …

KINSHASA | Xinhua | A major conference on peace and stability in Africa’s Great Lakes region drew to a close in Paris on Thursday, with a particular focus on the protracted crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Despite high hopes, the gathering soon found itself beleaguered by …

JUBA | Xinhua |  Over one million people have been affected by severe flooding across South Sudan, the United Nations (UN) humanitarian agency has said. In its update on floods released on Thursday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) also noted that nearly 355,000 people have …