Soldiers claim to have overthrown Niger’s government following an apparent coup in the West African nation on Wednesday 26 July 2023 when members of the Presidential Guard detained President Mohamed Bazoum. Members of the elite guard sealed off access to the president’s residence and offices in the capital Niamey, and after talks broke down, “refused […]

Opposition leader Raila Odinga told AFP Wednesday 26 July 2023 that he would not hold talks with President William Ruto without a third-party mediator after months of anti-government protests. Since Odinga urged Kenyans to take to the streets in March, his Azimio alliance has held nine days of protests against the government, with the demonstrations sometimes spiralling […]

Twenty-three people died Wednesday when a bus crashed in northern Senegal, President Macky Sall announced on social media. ALSO READ: Tragic migrant boat capsize off Senegal’s coast claims 16 lives “I call for even more caution on the road”, Sall said in a message posted on Twitter. Earlier, a national fire brigade official and a first […]

At least five Moroccans drowned when their boat sank off Western Sahara, a rights group said on Tuesday, as crossing attempts by migrants hoping to reach Europe multiply from the area. ALSO READ: Eight dead after boat capsizes off Senegal On Saturday authorities said six migrants drowned off northern Morocco trying to reach Spain. Mohamed Zendour, […]

Air strikes and artillery barrages from Sudan’s warring generals killed at least 16 people in a Khartoum neighbourhood on Tuesday 24 July 2023, a neighbourhood group reported. After more than 100 days of war, the latest bombardments added to a toll of at least 3,900 killed nationwide. “Sixteen citizens died today in this senseless war” […]

Senegal on Tuesday announced one more death following a migrant boat capsize off the coast of the capital Dakar, taking the total to 16. ALSO READ: Senegalese boat sinks off Morocco coast leaving 13 migrants dead Officials had initially reported 15 people died when the wooden boat overturned overnight Sunday to Monday. ALSO READ: Civilian plane crash in […]

Algerian firefighters were Tuesday 24 July 2023 battling blazes that have killed 34 people across the tinder-dry north, destroyed homes and coastal resorts and turned vast forest areas into blackened wastelands. Witnesses described fleeing walls of flames that raged “like a blowtorch” as TV footage showed charred cars, burnt-out shops and smouldering fields and scrubland. […]

Kenyan President William Ruto said Tuesday he is ready to meet opposition leader Raila Odinga “anytime” after months of anti-government protests that have sparked international alarm and calls for dialogue. ALSO READ: Civilian plane crash in war-torn Sudan leaves nine dead “As you have always known, am available to meet one on one with you […]

A top envoy to Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces on Monday said it was “time for peace” in Sudan and the Darfur region even as RSF’s war with Sudan’s regular army passed its 100th day. ALSO READ: Sudanese shocked as rockets, shells kill 20 civilians in Darfur RSF representative Youssef Ezzat made his remarks in the West […]

A court in Burkina Faso on Tuesday jailed a pro-junta activist for one year for defaming the police and added two more years from a previous suspended sentence for making death threats. ALSO READ: Mali’s junta chief new constitution fuels opponents protests The court in the capital Ouagadougou found Mohamed Sinon guilty after he accused the […]

Tensions ran high at the University of Cape Town on Monday evening as supporters of gay rights confronted members of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) ahead of a lecture by Kenyan professor Patrick Lumumba. Lumumba, who has been reported as supporting the repression of gay people in Uganda, was invited by the EFF for the […]

In Kenya’s rural northeast, roadside bombs and beheadings that killed two dozen people last month appear to be part of a troubling escalation of violence by Al-Qaeda-linked Islamists, analysts say. ALSO READ: Civilian plane crash in war-torn Sudan leaves nine dead A regional economic powerhouse and a popular tourist draw, Kenya has not suffered a […]

A distraught Congolese soldier shot dead at least 13 civilians, most of them children, in a village in the northeast of the conflict-plagued country, military and local sources said Sunday 23 July 2023. The naval serviceman couldn’t bear the fact that his child had been buried in his absence the day before he arrived in […]

At least 80,000 people have been displaced in three months of inter-communal violence in a north-central Nigerian state, a local official said, as the army reinforced security to end the clashes. ALSO READ: Civilian plane crash in war-torn Sudan leaves nine dead Since May, Plateau State has seen a surge of attacks among mostly Muslim […]

At least 33 people died and 21 others were injured when a building collapsed in Cameroon’s business hub Douala, a senior fire officer and the regional governor told AFP on Monday. ALSO READ: WATCH: Building collapse claims 16 lives in Cameroon [VIDEO] The four-storey block of flats collapsed onto another residential building in the north of the […]

BABANANGO GETS THE BIG 5 After many years of rewilding and significant efforts, KwaZulu-Natal’s Babanango Game Reserve has attained full Big 5 status, and is now home to lion, rhino, buffalo, leopard and elephant, among many other species. ALSO READ: Zululand treasures: Three things you shouldn’t miss According to Tourism Update, a small breeding herd of seven […]

Kenya’s opposition Saturday 22 July 2023 called a fresh anti-government rally next week to protest rising prices and taxes after three previous demonstrations largely failed to mobilise supporters. Last week saw a trio of protests against the administration of President William Ruto, taking the total of such marches to eight since March. But while a […]

The South African Minister of Home Affairs, Aaron Motsoaledi, recently lost a court case that anyone could have anticipated was unwinnable. He probably expected to lose it too. He lost it on humanitarian and technical grounds. It prevents him from terminating the South African government’s concession to refugees from neighbouring Zimbabwe nearly fifteen years ago. […]

Nine people, including four soldiers, were killed Sunday evening when a civilian plane crashed in Sudan due to “technical” reasons, the army said, as the war in the east African country entered its 100th day. The fighting has left millions trapped in their homes and some without water, particularly in the suburbs of the capital […]

Kenyans largely ignored a call by the opposition to boost anti-government protests on Thursday 20 July 2023, although isolated clashes flared in the capital between police and stone-throwing demonstrators. Police fired tear gas and live rounds at protesters in Nairobi’s Kibera slum, an opposition stronghold, AFP journalists saw, but no violence was reported elsewhere in contrast to […]

Liberia’s election commission published Thursday 20 July 2023 a preliminary list of candidates for October’s legislative election, with women accounting for only 15 per cent of nominees despite efforts for a 30 per cent quota. Only 159 of the 1,030 people nominated to the West African country’s Senate and House of Representatives are women, the […]

Egyptian researcher Patrick Zaki and lawyer Mohamed al-Baqer walked out of prison Thursday 20 July 2023, relatives said, a day after President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi pardoned them in the wake of an international outcry. Zaki was sentenced to three years in prison on Tuesday for “spreading false news”, prompting some participants to walk out of […]

Algeria on Thursday 20 July 2023 denounced Israel’s backing of Morocco’s “claimed sovereignty” over the disputed Western Sahara region as a “flagrant violation” of international law. The Western Sahara conflict pits Morocco against Sahrawi separatists of the Algiers-backed Polisario Front. The dispute dates back to 1975, when colonial ruler Spain withdrew from the territory, sparking […]

A Malawian court on Thursday 20 July 2023 convicted a Chinese national accused of racism and exploiting children in relation to a series of online videos and ordered him to leave the country. ALSO READ: Chinese nationals arrested in Crackdown on crypto mining HE WAS GIVEN A WEEK TO LEAVE MALAWI A judge in the African […]

Nigeria’s military has sent reinforcements to calm tensions in a troubled northern central state, where local officials say at least 300 people have been killed in three months of inter-communal violence. ALSO READ: Blasphemy leaves one muslim dead in northern Nigeria Plateau State has been struggling since May with a surge in clashes and raids between […]