Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT  |  The appointments of new Buganda Kingdom’s representatives in Kooki have stirred controversy between the two cultural institutions. The Kooki chiefdom council meeting held on Friday resolved to mobilize loyalists to strongly reject Buganda’s appointees in the area. Richard Sseggwanyi, the Kooki Council Speaker vented his …

Gulf of Guinea, Nigeria | AFP |  A Nigerian navy speedboat loaded with special forces troops skims across the waves towards a suspect vessel in the Gulf of Guinea. Guns ready, black-clad officers clamber up a rope ladder and fan out across the decks, looking for pirates believed to have taken …

Berlin, Germany | AFP |  US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and incoming EU chief Ursula von der Leyen issued stark warnings Friday that the West faces new  challenges from Russia and China, on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s fall. Urging Western allies to defend hard-won …

Kitgum, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT  |  Kitgum General Hospital management have renewed calls to the Health Ministry to elevate the facility to a Regional Referral Hospital. They argue that for long the health facility has been offering health services beyond the level of a district Hospital with limited funding from government. …

Birao, Central African Republic | AFP |  A heavy silence hangs in the dusty alleys of Birao, in the extreme northeast of Central African Republic, where figures only rarely wander between the empty houses and reed hedges. Since September, Birao has been hit hard by fighting between armed groups despite a …

Hoima, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT  |  Flying squad operatives have arrested three suspected Motorcycle robbers who have been terrorizing cyclists in the region.  They were arrested on Thursday night in one of the lodges in Hoima town.   Julius Hakiza, the Albertine region police spokesperson identified the suspects as Fred Ssegawa 28, …

Berlin, Germany | AFP | Germany on Saturday marks 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall that ushered in the end of communism and national reunification, as the Western alliance that helped secure those achievements is riddled with divisions. Two days before the date that brought epochal change, France’s …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT  | The Uganda Silverbacks basketball team on Friday night defeated Nigeria 15-14 in a breathtaking game of the FIBA 3X3 Basketball Africa Cup. In a game played at the Lugogo Hockey stadium, the Silverbacks which trailed in the first half of the game made a comeback …

Paraiesti, Romania | AFP |  With a religious icon pinned to a wall, washing hung out to dry, and a table and two chairs standing on a terrace, Paraiesti looks like almost any other village in rural Romania — at least at first glance. But Paraiesti is actually more of a …

Mopti, Mali | AFP |  Untroubled by time, the mighty Niger River glides through the Sahel city as women wash their clothes in its brackish waters and cows slumber nearby in the heat. But this peaceful image is an illusion, for Mopti, a city of 150,000 people, is on a dark, …