WARRAQ ISLAND, Egypt | AFP | Residents of a Cairo island with lush fields and unpaved roads, a world apart from Egypt’s traffic-choked metropolis, are determined to stay put as judges rule on their possible expulsion. Accessible only by ferry, the island of Warraq stands in sharp contrast to the …
Read More »Bouteflika party says it backs Algeria protests
Algiers, Algeria | AFP | The party of ailing Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said Wednesday it supports protesters’ calls for change while backing his call for dialogue to overcome the country’s political crisis. The National Liberation Front (FLN)’s statement comes after cracks emerged within two other pillars of Bouteflika’s regime, key …
Read More »Burundi schoolgirls jailed for doodling on president’s photo
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Three teenage schoolgirls in Burundi have been sent to prison to await trial for scribbling on a picture of President Pierre Nkurunziza in textbooks, activists said Thursday. The girls, aged 15, 16 and 17, face up to five years in prison for insulting the head …
Read More »The battle to bring affordable antivenoms to Africa
Watamu, Kenya | AFP | Snake antivenoms have been around for 125 years, are effective and can be produced cheaply at scale. Yet Africa, with its abundance of deadly snakes, has an alarming shortage of the life-saving medicine. Experts and campaigners blame a combination of weak production capacity, feeble …
Read More »Nile River crisis must be solved to avoid conflict:
Cairo, Egypt | AFP | A water crisis brewing between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan over a contentious Nile dam could escalate into a conflict with “severe humanitarian consequences”, a think-tank said on Wednesday. Egypt, which relies almost totally on the Nile for irrigation and drinking water, fears the Grand Ethiopian …
Read More »Egypt’s historic Wafd party eclipsed under Sisi’s rule
Cairo, Egypt | AFP | A century after Egypt’s March 1919 revolution, the prominent Wafd party credited with leading popular demands to end the British occupation, has now been largely sidelined on the country’s political scene, analysts say. A one-time liberal opposition force with a mass following, Wafd is considered Egypt’s …
Read More »Algeria’s Bouteflika confirms to stay president after term ends
Algiers, Algeria | AFP | Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on Monday confirmed he will stay in power beyond his term expiring next month, despite tens of thousands of people demonstrating against his rule. Bouteflika announced on March 11 he was withdrawing from his bid for a fifth term, initially sparking elation …
Read More »C-section 50 times more deadly for women in Africa: study
Paris, France | AFP | The death rate among women undergoing a C-section to deliver a baby is about 50 times higher in Africa than in most wealthy nations, researchers said Friday. One in 200 women perished during or soon after a caesarean in a sampling of nearly 3,700 births …
Read More »S.Africa’s Zuma won’t seek MP seat, party list shows
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Former South African president Jacob Zuma will not seek a place in parliament in the May 8 elections, the ruling party has said, surprising those who expected him to try to stage a comeback. Zuma, who has had a fraught relationship with his successor Cyril Ramaphosa and his anti-graft …
Read More »DRC ebola centre attacks worrying – UN health chief
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Attacks on Ebola treatment centres in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), risk reversing the gains made during the current outbreak in the north-east of the country, the head of the UN health agency Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said. Dr Tedros resounded …
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