AFRICA

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP |  Four years ago, Bongekile Msibi, already a mother of a now 15-year-old girl, consulted a doctor after trying unsuccessfully to have a second child. She was shocked, shattered and bewildered, she said, when the doctor told her that she could not conceive because she did …

Rome, Italy | AFP |  Italy imposed unprecedented national restrictions on its 60 million people Tuesday to control the deadly coronavirus, as China signalled major progress in its own battle against the global epidemic. The outbreak, combined with a crash in oil prices, has caused carnage on financial markets, erasing billions …

Cairo, Egypt | AFP |  Just when Egypt’s crucial tourism sector was recovering from years of political tumult and jihadist attacks, the industry finds itself bracing for a potential buffeting by the new coronavirus. The guesthouse where Bassam Hamimi works in archaeologically rich southern Egypt usually hosts numerous tourists from China, …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | DR Congo health officials said Monday they were “keeping fingers crossed” to declare a deadly 19-month Ebola epidemic over next month, while monitoring former patients for signs of the virus. While the world’s attention has been focused on the coronavirus, the last patient under …

Kigali, Rwanda | AFP | City authorities in Kigali have banned concerts, rallies and other mass gatherings in the capital as a preventive measure against coronavirus, despite Rwanda recording no confirmed cases of the illness. Coronavirus has only been reported in eight countries on the African continent, according to data from …

Mogok, South Sudan | AFP | The villagers hear the distant roar of jet engines before a cargo plane makes a deafening pass over Mogok, dropping sacks of grain from its hold to the marooned dust bowl below. There is no other way to get food to this starving hamlet in …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Sudan’s post-uprising Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok escaped unharmed Monday as an assassination attempt using explosives targeted his convoy in the capital Khartoum, his top aide said. “An explosion hit as Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s car was driving by but thank God no one was hurt,” said …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Twenty two Europeans who arrived last night for the Uganda Europe Business Forum have returned home after discovering they would have to first self quarantine for 14 days. Uganda last week discouraged Europeans travelling from coronavirus hit countries from heading to Uganda, and if they …

Kokoti-Kouamekro, Ivory Coast | AFP |  In a poor farming village in Ivory Coast, women are celebrating a new development that is allowing them to send their children to school instead of working in the country’s cocoa plantations. Until now, many families earning less than a dollar (a euro) a day …

Conakry, Guinea | AFP |  In a dingy room reeking of blood and sweat in Guinea’s capital Conakry, a volunteer doctor treats a man with bullet wounds in his legs as he tries to suppress his groans. Hidden inside a gated compound a stone’s throw from the city centre, supporters of …