AFRICA

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The African Development Bank has raised an exceptional USD 3 billion in a three-year bond to help alleviate the economic and social impact that the COVID-19 pandemic will have on livelihoods and Africa’s economies. The Fight COVID-19 social bond, with a three-year maturity garnered interest …

Bamako, Mali | AFP | Malians vote Sunday in a long-delayed parliamentary election, despite a raging jihadist conflict, the recent kidnap of a leading opposition politician and the coronavirus pandemic. Experts see the vote as a key step towards leading the West African state out of its spiral of violence and …

BULIISA, Uganda | AFP |  It was the promise of oil — billions of barrels of black gold, discovered locked beneath Lake Albert — and the riches to follow that brought electricity to Buliisa. Roads, piped water, and other unthinkable luxuries came next, as the poor farming village on the great …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP |  South Africa came under a nationwide military-patrolled lockdown on Friday, joining other African countries imposing strict curfews and shutdowns in an attempt to halt the spread of the coronavirus across the continent. Some 57 million people are to be restricted to their homes during South …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe has re-introduced the use of foreign currency for domestic transactions in what was seen as a bid to tap into private forex savings as the country gears up for the battle against the novel coronavirus. In a statement the central bank governor John Mangudya said the move is part …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | African nations fighting the novel coronavirus face a foe as stealthy and dangerous as the microbe itself: misinformation and apathy, fuelled by deep distrust of government. Bogus news and indifference to official warnings are emerging as giant obstacles in a region where poor healthcare infrastructure, …

Blantyre, Malawi | AFP | Malawian Vice President Saulos Chilima has filed a lawsuit against President Peter Mutharika after he refused to fire the electoral commissioners who oversaw last year’s failed election, his lawyer said Thursday. A battle has been raging for months between the opposition and head of state over the May 21 vote, …

Nakuru, Kenya | AFP | On a Kenyan flower farm, workers stick to their daily schedule of cutting some of the world’s finest roses. But instead of flying them to Europe or the Middle East for weddings, funerals and romantic gestures, they take them to an improvised dump where tens of …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Sudanese Defence Minister Lieutenant General Jamal al-Din Omar died of an unspecified illness Wednesday while in neighbouring South Sudan for peace talks with his country’s main rebel groups, the military announced. Omar had “suffered from a number of chronic illnesses,” armed forces spokesman Amer Mohamed al-Hassan said without elaborating. The …

Dakar, Senegal | AFP |  African nations have ordered curfews and lockdowns in response to the growing coronavirus epidemic, raising fears of turmoil for low-income workers and cash-strapped governments across the continent. Cases have risen across the world’s poorest continent over the past week to a total of 2,137 and 62 …