Empangeni, South Africa | AFP | President President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday symbolically handed back land to a community of black South Africans who were forcibly removed from it under apartheid and promised to accelerate land reform. “We are making history and celebrating the return of your land today. We are …
Read More »Museveni visits site of deadly Uganda landslide
Bududa, Uganda | AFP | Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni visited eastern Bududa Sunday after 43 people died when a landslide caused a river to burst its banks, sending water and boulders cascading downhill. Wearing military uniform and carrying a cleft stick Museveni looked across the Sume river at the remains …
Read More »DR Congo identifies ‘second wave’ of Ebola in east
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | A second wave of the Ebola virus has been confirmed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where an initial outbreak has already killed 125 people, a minister said Saturday. The latest wave is centred in Beni, a town in North Kivu near the border …
Read More »Boulders litter Uganda villages crushed by deadly landslide
Bududa, Uganda | AFP – Michael O’HAGAN | On a muddy outcrop on the banks of the Sume river, grief-stricken families gaze at enormous boulders that stand testimony to the force of the deluge which engulfed their homes. Hundreds of newly-deposited rocks, each the size of a van, litter the …
Read More »Community fears grow as DR Congo Ebola death toll climbs
Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | Humanitarian workers are struggling to calm community fears in strife-torn eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where 125 people have died of Ebola, and cases of the virus are spreading fast. The World Health Organization said Friday that 200 cases of the deadly virus have been …
Read More »Rwandan minister Mushikiwabo elected Francophonie head
Yerevan, Armenia | AFP | The world organisation of French-speaking nations on Friday elected Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo as its new head despite her country’s shift to English a decade ago and controversy over its rights record. Mushikiwabo was elected in a suspense-free vote on the last day of …
Read More »I. Coast says nearly 400 tonnes of fake drugs seized in two years
Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP | Nearly 400 tonnes of fake medicines have been seized over two years in Ivory Coast, whose main city Abidjan is a West African haven for counterfeit drugs, the health ministry said Tuesday. Counterfeit medicine is the scourge of Africa and the cause of around …
Read More »Haftar forces capture top Egypt jihadist in Libya
Benghazi, Libya | AFP | Forces of Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar on Monday captured one of Egypt’s most-wanted jihadists in the east of the chaos-ridden country, a spokesman said. “The command of Arab Libyan forces announces the arrest of Egyptian terrorist Hisham el-Ashmawy at dawn on Monday, during a security …
Read More »Kivu, Africa’s Great Lakes battleground
Goma, DR Congo | AFP | The Democratic Republic of Congo’s region of Kivu, where 2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner doctor Denis Mukwege is based, has been caught up in conflict and war for 24 years. The fighting inflicts on Kivu — which is divided into North and South provinces …
Read More »Stigma, blame means African women wary to say #MeToo
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | The #MeToo campaign has given mostly Western women confidence to speak up about violence at the hands of men, but in Africa women say stigma and victim-blaming still keep many silent. Fiercely patriarchal societies and religious and traditional views on the role of women means …
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