Tag: africanews

Calm has returned to the streets of Senegal’s capital, Dakar, following 72 hours of violence. Clashes erupted on Thursday in the wake of the sentencing of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko to two years in jail. On Saturday, authorities said that 500 people had been arrested since Thursday. “The security forces were faced with violent demonstrators, who were not seeking to… Read More

The Senegalese government praised the justice system following the conviction on Thursday of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko on charges of corruption. The courts announcement was followed by protests across the country.  According to the Interior Ministry, nine people were killed in the clashes. “A politician was taken to the justice (court, Ed.) by a woman who accused him of a… Read More

Tensions remained high in Senegal on Saturday after fresh overnight clashes brought the death toll to 15 in the two days since a court convicted opposition leader Ousmane Sonko. Sonko’s ongoing legal woes have prompted rare flare-ups of violence in Senegal, typically a bastion of stability in West Africa, and foreign allies have urged a return to calm. Sonko, a… Read More

Several hundred militants from Morocco’s left-wing trade union movement denounced the “high cost of living” and “government inaction” in Casablanca, western Morocco, on Sunday, despite a ban on demonstrations, AFP journalists observed on site. Coming from all over the country, trade unionists from the left-wing Confédération Démocratique du Travail (CDT) gathered in the historic center of the economic capital. “We’re… Read More

For decades, members of the Rastafari community have been persecuted and imprisoned for their ritualistic marijuana use. “I (was) born within the Rastafari community. My mother and father are Rastafari,” says Ras Kiyode Erasto, a priest with the Ras Freeman Foundation for the Unification of Rastafari. Erasto suffered bullying and discrimination growing up. At one point, he says, his mother had… Read More

Uganda announced that 54 soldiers were killed on May 26 in Somalia in the attack claimed by radical Islamist Shebab against an African Union (AU) base, one of the deadliest in the country in recent months. The assault on the base of the AU force in Somalia (Atmis), manned by Ugandan soldiers, was launched at dawn in Bulo Marer, 120… Read More

Bissau-Guineans were voting on Sunday to renew their National Assembly, which was dissolved over a year ago, and break the paralysis that has plagued this small West African state prone to political crises. Polling stations opened at 07:00 (GMT and local time). The 884,000 registered voters will be able to cast their ballots until 5:00 p.m. for this one-round proportional… Read More

The Senegalese presidential coalition has accused the opposition of “destabilizing the country” after riots that have left 15 people dead since Thursday over the sentencing of opposition politician Ousmane Sonko to two years in prison. “We’re going to defend our country against these people,” says Mame Mbaye Niang, Senegal’s Minister of Tourism and a member of the presidential coalition.  “Today,… Read More

Claressa Shields is perhaps in the prime of her career, establishing a big enough name as a two-time Olympic gold medalist and world champion in three weight classes to headline the first boxing card in the six-year history of Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena. The undisputed middleweight champion became the first woman to earn a seven-figure payday in her last two… Read More

A sandstorm killed one person and injured five others in Egypt on Thursday after an advertising billboard fell onto a busy thoroughfare in the heart of Cairo. In the capital of more than 20 million inhabitants, the sky suddenly darkened as a sandstorm with huge orange billows swept across the sprawling city. Torn down by the violent winds, “a billboard… Read More