Author: Village Reporter

Civilians are fleeing into Niger Republic after gunmen attacked Damasak town, Borno state in northeast Nigeria on Wednesday. Reports on the ground say this is the third attack in a week and the second in 24 hours — as dozens of jihadist fighters from the Islamic State in West Africa Province have been launching sporadic offensives since last weekend. The assault comes just days after the militants set ablaze several aid worker facilities in the same town including the United Nations humanitarian hub housing several international agencies. The government is…

More than 16,000 doses of vaccine have reached their expiration date and will be destroyed in Malawi, after arriving in the southern African country three weeks ago, the health minister said Wednesday. Of the 102,000 doses sent by the African Union (AU), some 16,400 were not used and expired on Tuesday, Charles Mwansambo told AFP. Of the total 530,000 doses received in the country via the Covax program, the Indian government, and the AU, all of which are AstraZeneca vaccine, 46% have been used so far, he said. “We have…

Patrice Talon’s supporters celebrate with singing and dancing outside his headquarters over the victory of their candidate in the first round of the presidential elections in Cotonou, Benin. A few hours earlier, the president of the Autonomous National Electoral Commission had announced his victory with 86% of the votes cast in the first round of the presidential election Talon, 62, a cotton tycoon first elected to lead the West African state in 2016, faced two little-known rivals in Sunday’s vote with most of his key opponents in exile or disqualified…

At least 20 people have been killed and three others injured in a road accident in southern Egypt Tuesday. Authorities said a bus overturned while trying to overtake a truck on a highway causing a collision that lead to the casualties. The bus was travelling from Cairo when it turned over. It was hit by the truck on a road in the southern province of Assiut, some 320 kilometers south of Cairo. In a statement, Assiut Governor Essam Saad said both vehicles caught fire. Photos released by the governor’s office…

Burkina Faso’s former president Blaise Compaoré, now in exile in Ivory Coast, will stand trial for the assassination of his predecessor Thomas Sankara, a pan-African icon, during the 1987 coup in which he took power, lawyers told AFP on Tuesday. The case was referred Tuesday to the military court in Ouagadougou, after the confirmation of charges against the main defendants, including Blaise Compaoré, 34 years after the death of the “father of the revolution” Burkinabé, according to defence lawyers and civil parties. After Gilbert Diendere — his former right-hand man…

A hotel in the Canary Islands has opened its doors to migrants seeking a new life. When hotel director Calvin Lucock and restaurant owner Unn Tove Saetran said goodbye to one of the last groups of migrants staying in one of the seaside resorts they manage in Spain’s Canary Islands, the British-Norwegian couple didn’t know when they would have guests again. They had initially lost their tourism clientele to the coronavirus pandemic, but then things took an unexpected turn. A humanitarian crisis was unfolding on the archipelago where tens of…