Tag: africanews

A prominent Ugandan satirical writer and an outspoken government critic participated in a court hearing this Friday via a video link from prison to face accusations of “offensive communications”. The defence’s lawyer says the state does not have evidence of wrongdoing. “Hearing has not begun, because the state is not ready. It will never be ready. You will never see a trial in this matter, there is no evidence, there is nothing. This is political prosecution, the cases are fabricated. There is no life in them”, said Eron Kiiza, lawyer…

Opposition is growing in South Africa against the latest plan to increase prices of electricity in the country. National power utility company Eskom has announced plans to increase charges by almost 21%. The increase is more than three times the current inflation rate. The plans have been publicly opposed by Cape Town and Johannesburg, both cities led by mayors from the Democratic Alliance, South Africa’s biggest opposition party. Eskom defends the move arguing that the increase is necessary to service the debt of US$26 billion dollars as well maintain the…

At least 10 people have died in flash floods triggered by torrential rain that battered Madagascar’s capital Antananarivo overnight, an interior ministry official said Tuesday. The victims were killed after “the floods caused landslides and houses collapsed,” Sonia Ray, spokeswoman for the ministry’s disaster management office, told AFP. Two people have been injured and more than 500 displaced by the storm, according to preliminary figures released by the National Bureau of Disaster Risk Management (BNGRC) Some 20 districts around the capital of 1.3 million are on red alert for flooding,…

The Police in Kano has arrested two suspects, Abdulmalik Mohammed and Hashim Isyaku for allegedly abducting and killing a five-year-old girl, Hanifa Abubakar. Owner of the girl’s school, Abdulmalik Mohammed Tanko, allegedly kidnapped Hanifa in the northern Kano state in December to demand a ransom of $14,600 (£10,800). According to the police, 34-year-old Tanko later killed Hanifa after realising she had recognised him. Abubakar was buried in a shallow grave and her remains were discovered at private school premises in Kwanar ‘Yan Gana, Tudun Murtala Quarters, Nassarawa LGA, Kano, the…

Last updated: 5 hours ago Yemen’s Houthi rebels hold a mass demonstration in the rebel-held capital Sanaa to denounce deadly airstrikes. Dozens of people are said to have been killed and injured after the Saudi-led airstrikes, according to officials and NGOs with the toll expected to increase. The intense campaign comes after the Houthis claimed a drone and missile attack on an Abu Dhabi industrial area on Monday, killing three people and wounding six. More about Sourced from Africanews

Algerian president Tebboune has decided to shut down schools across the country for 10 days. The decision came after an emergency meeting with the Council of ministers, members of the COVID-19 scientific committee and the country’s security officials, on Wednesday. Schools in Algeria were closed on Thursday following a decision to shut down education across the country for 10 days. The country is battling infections from both the delta variant and the fast-spreading omicron variant. “The situation is alarming given the fact that the numbers are increasing exponentially and this…

Mali paid a last tribute to former President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who died this week, a year and a half after being overthrown by the military, AFP correspondents noted. The junta that succeeded him and is now holding out against much of the international community organized a national funeral in a military camp in Bamako under the presidency of the so-called transitional Prime Minister, Choguel Kokalla Maiga. Colonel Assimi Goïta, one of the leaders of the 2020 putsch who has since been invested as president of the transition, was absent.…

Minawao Refugee Camp in northern Cameroon is home to thousands of Nigerian refugees who have fled war in their home country. In the heart of this camp, a group of girls has formed an all-female football team. Words are not enough to describe the joy in the eyes of Nigerian refugee girls as they reminisce their latest experience. Friday, January 14 was a great day in Minawao, northern Cameroon. In their refugee camp, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Confederation of African Football organized a once-in-a…

Authorities in Ivory Coast are using the African Cup of Nations to boost the campiagn of vaccination against Covid-19. As supporters flocked to fan zones in the capital, Abidjan, on Thursday to watch the match against Algeria the health authorities set up vaccination points to encourage people to get vaccinated. “The Ivory Coast is playing right now. Without the vaccine we cannot go out or travel far in the country, so I have to do my vaccine in the middle of the African Cup because I want to go out.…

Tunisian President Kais Saied assured Thursday that the country’s freedoms are “guaranteed” after rights groups warned of a threat signalled by the violent suppression of an anti-Saied protest. Civil society groups and Saied’s political opponents have expressed fears of a return to authoritarianism in the only democracy to have emerged from the Arab Spring protests over a decade ago. In a meeting with Interior Minister Taoufik Charfeddine, Saied said he “affirms that freedoms are guaranteed in Tunisia, recalling his commitment to equality before the law and his rejection of violence”,…