Month: July 2019

A Nigerian court has granted the government permission to label a local Shi’ite Muslim group a terrorist organisation, the solicitor general told Reuters on Saturday. Members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) have been marching in the capital Abuja calling for the release of their leader, Ibrahim Zakzaky, who has been in detention since 2015 despite a court order… Read More

Tanzania’s economic growth slowed to 6.6% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2019 from 7.5% in the same period a year earlier, official data showed on Sunday, weighed down by softer construction, agriculture and manufacturing activity. A leaked report from the International Monetary Fund said earlier this year that Tanzania’s economy has not been expanding as fast as official figures… Read More

A Johannesburg High Court on Friday approved a 5 billion rand ($353 million) class action settlement between gold mining companies and law firms representing thousands of miners who contracted the fatal lung diseases silicosis and tuberculosis. The settlement follows a long legal battle by miners to win compensation for illnesses they say they contracted over decades because of negligence in… Read More

Dozens of people demonstrated in the streets of Khartoum, Sudan on Saturday. They were against findings of an investigation into the brutal repression of a sit-in by demonstrators in June. On amateur videos posted to social networks, they can be seen burning tires and chanting slogans against the Burri district committee, charged with shedding light on the protest break-in The… Read More

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has challenged governments in Africa to play a leading role in providing jobs for Africans. President of the AfDB, Akinwumi Adesina said this at the 5th Tony Elumelu African Entrepreneurship forum in Lagos, Nigeria on Saturday. “We have market failure, the current market system doesn’t provide financing to them (population of Africa), and you have… Read More

Ratings agency Fitch downgraded the outlook for South Africa’s sub-investment credit rating on Friday, citing fiscal pressures including increased support for struggling state firms such as the power utility Eskom. South Africa’s public finances are under huge strain as economic growth has proved weaker than expected while a handful of state companies have needed large government cash injections. The government… Read More

The head of a Sudanese investigation into the violent break up of a protest by security forces said on Saturday that 87 people were killed and 168 wounded in the June 3 incident in Khartoum, citing a higher death toll than previous official estimates. Fath al-Rahman Saeed, the head of the investigative committee appointed by the public prosecutor, said some… Read More