Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh | AFP | Relief agencies on Tuesday fought to contain a diarrhoea outbreak around camps in Bangladesh where more than 500,000 Rohingya have taken shelter in the past five weeks. The United Nations said meanwhile it would seek $430 million to increase operations in the camps along the …
Read More »Zimbabwe arrests journalist over Grace Mugabe ‘used’ underwear
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe police have arrested a journalist at a privately-owned daily over a story claiming that President Robert Mugabe’s wife, Grace had donated second-hand underwear to supporters, lawyers said Tuesday. Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) said that Kenneth Nyangani, a NewsDay journalist, was arrested on Monday …
Read More »DR Congo violence pushes thousands into Zambia
Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | Several thousand people have fled to Zambia in the past month to escape violence in Democratic Republic of Congo, the UN said Tuesday. The UN refugee agency said 3,360 people from DR Congo’s conflict-wracked southeast had entered Zambia since August 30, the largest influx of its …
Read More »Risk of Madagascar plague outbreak spreading in region: WHO
Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | The World Health Organization said Tuesday there was a “moderate risk” that a plague outbreak in Madagascar would spread to other countries in the region, but advised against travel restrictions. The outbreak of both bubonic plague, which is spread by infected rats via flea bites, and …
Read More »Vigilantes kill six suspected ‘vampires’ in Malawi
Blantyre, Malawi | AFP | Vigilantes in Malawi have killed six people suspected of trying to obtain and drink human blood as part of magic rituals since mid-September, police told AFP on Tuesday. Malawi, where witchcraft is widely believed and education standards are low, is regularly dogged by rumours of “vampire” …
Read More »UN chief asks Cameroon to probe attacks on anglophones
United Nations, United States | AFP | UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called on Cameroon to probe deadly attacks in the country’s restless English-speaking region after protests leading to a symbolic declaration of independence. At least 17 people were killed in weekend attacks in mostly French-speaking Cameroon’s southwest, a …
Read More »Zimbabwe’s Tsvangirai discharged from S.Africa hospital
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, has been discharged from a South African hospital were he had been receiving medical treatment, his spokesman said Tuesday. “He was discharged last week (on) Monday. He is now fine, he is out of danger,” Luke Tamborinyoka told AFP. Tamborinyoka …
Read More »Home-made bomb explodes in restive Cameroon region
Yaoundé, Cameroon | AFP | A home-made device exploded overnight near a police station in Cameroon’s restless English-speaking region, where separatist leaders have launched a campaign for independence, concurring sources said Tuesday. There were no reported casualties, they said. The bomb detonated near a police unit called the Mobile Intervention Group …
Read More »Iraq ex-president and Kurdish leader Talabani dies
Sulaimaniyah, Iraq | AFP | Ex-Iraqi president Jalal Talabani, a veteran leader of the struggle for Kurdish self-determination and a unifying elder statesman, died on Tuesday in Germany aged 83, Kurdish officials said. Talabani was Iraq’s president from 2005 to 2014 and a key figure in Iraqi Kurdistan, where voters …
Read More »Mugabe back in S.Africa after wife evaded assault claim
Pretoria, South Africa | AFP | Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe returned to South Africa on Tuesday for the first time since his wife claimed diplomatic immunity over allegedly assaulting a model in a Johannesburg hotel room. Mugabe, 93, was not accompanied by his wife Grace as he met President Jacob Zuma …
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