MAPUTO – Another tropical cyclone – Kenneth – is expected to make landfall on Mozambique’s coast on Thursday, just over a month after a more powerful storm struck the Mozambican port city of Beira further south and killed hundreds of people. Weather forecasters say Cyclone Kenneth will bring heavy rainfall, strong winds and waves of […]

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan are rumoured to be in talks about a move to Africa after the imminent birth of their baby. According to the UK’s Sunday Times, a “formal plan” is being drawn up to move the Duke and Duchess of Sussex (Harry and Meghan) overseas to work. Those involved in the […]

MAPUTO – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will grant Mozambique a $118.2 million credit facility to help it rebuild infrastructure after a devastating cyclone that killed hundreds of people and flattened whole villages, the lender said on Friday. The IMF said in a statement that this will be a zero-interest, 10-year loan. More than 1,000 […]

When Ohio University integrative biologist Nancy Stevens peered into a drawer in the wooden cabinets on the top floor of a Nairobi museum in 2010, she saw a chunk of rock containing massive teeth and knew she had come across something important. The overlooked fossils stored at the National Museums of Kenya belonged to one […]

With little faith in their government, Zimbabweans took the rescue effort into their own hands after Cyclone Idai hit the Chimanimani region. Steve Kretzmann reports… The first rains in the aftermath of Cyclone Idai fell on Chimanimani on 12 April, once again isolating the town nearly a month after floods and mudslides left at least […]

Hundreds of thousands of people are still in need of aid after Cyclone Idai battered Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi in March. More than 1,000 people have been reported killed by the storm, the flooding it caused and heavy rains before it hit. The World Bank estimates the affected countries will need over $2 billion to […]

Pope Francis, in a dramatic gesture after an unprecedented retreat at the Vatican, knelt to kiss the feet of South Sudan’s previously warring leaders on Thursday as he urged them to not return to a civil war. Dropping to his knees, he appealed to the men – President Salva Kiir, his former deputy turned rebel […]

KHARTOUM – Sudanese President Omar Hassan Bashir, who weathered multiple armed rebellions, economic crises and attempts by the West to make him a pariah, was forced to step down by the military on Thursday after popular protests. Bashir, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1989, was at the presidential residence under “heavy guard”, […]

Tanzania plans to ban the production, importation, sale and use of all single-use plastic bags by July, to help tackle pollution from non-biodegradable waste… which will be a relief to South African expats in the country who have long voiced concern over the mounting plastic bag crisis, with winds blowing thousands of discarded plastic bags […]

A South African court has ruled that Mozambique’s former finance minister Manuel Chang can be extradited to the United States, where he is wanted on charges related to a $2 billion debt scandal, one of Chang’s lawyers said on Monday. The ruling will effectively serve as a recommendation for South Africa’s justice minister, who has […]

HARARE – Zimbabwe is to start paying compensation this year to thousands of white farmers who lost land under former president Robert Mugabe’s land reform nearly two decades ago, the government said, as it seeks to bring closure to a highly divisive issue. Two decades ago Mugabe’s government carried out at times violent evictions of […]

An American tourist and her driver have been rescued unharmed after being kidnapped in a national park in southwestern Uganda last week, the Ugandan authorities said on Sunday. Kimberley Sue Endecott, 35, was abducted by gunmen in Queen Elizabeth National Park, near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, on April 4. The kidnappers […]

PARIS – French President Emmanuel Macron wants to declare April 7 as a national day of commemoration of the Rwandan genocide, his Elysee office said in a statement on Sunday. The presidency made the announcement as the Rwandan government started commemorations marking the 25th anniversary of the genocide against Tutsi and moderate Hutus, raising the […]

An American woman and her driver are still missing after having been kidnapped at Uganda’s most popular wildlife park by four gunmen demanding a ransom of $500,000, according to local police. (UPDATE: American tourist and driver, kidnapped in Uganda, rescued!) Businesswoman and beautician Kimberley Sue Endecott, 35, and Ugandan driver Jean Paul were on a […]

BEIRA, Mozambique – Hundreds of thousands of people are in need of food, water and shelter after Cyclone Idai battered Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi. And, as of today (Tues), at least 843 people had been reported killed by the storm, the flooding it caused and heavy rains before it hit. View the factbox at the […]

The 40,000 sq km Serengeti-Mara plain that straddles the border of Kenya and Tanzania is famous for its abundant and diverse wildlife. It is also home to one of the wonders of the world: the Serengeti-Mara wildebeest migration. Each year about two million wildebeest, zebra and gazelles migrate from Tanzania to Kenya’s Maasai Mara in […]

BEIRA, Mozambique – Cyclone Idai’s deadly hit has left some 1.85 million people in need of assistance in Mozambique in a catastrophe that United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday rang “yet another alarm bell” about climate change. Guterres described Idai, which flattened homes and caused massive flooding after slamming into Mozambique near the […]

Going on safari in Africa offers tourists the opportunity to see some of the most spectacular wildlife on Earth – including African elephants (Loxodonta africana). Known for their complex social systems, long memory and high intelligence, this species is also threatened by poaching and shrinking habitats, so further disturbance to their precarious existence could have […]

Kenyans have taken to social media to protest against what they claim is illegal sand harvesting off Diani beach, one of the country’s most popular coastal areas. The Conversation Africa’s Moina Spooner spoke to David Obura about why this is an issue. Is sand harvesting a problem on the Kenyan coast? The harvesting of sand […]

Rescue teams in Mozambique moved hundreds of people displaced by Cyclone Idai’s massive and deadly flooding to safer shelters on Monday, while the government made preparations for a cholera outbreak that it says is inevitable amid the devastation. In areas west of the port city of Beira, hundreds of people were trapped for more than […]

Amidst the floods and devastation that Cyclone Idai has left in its wake, there are many South African heroes who are making us proud. SAPeople spoke to one of them, Soweto doctor Qasim Bhorat whose poignant messages from Mozambique make us cry, and smile… Qasim grew up in Stanger, studied at the University of the […]

South Africa booked the last place at the African Cup of Nations finals with a 2-1 away win over Libya thanks to Percy Tau’s double on Sunday to complete the lineup for the 24-team finals being hosted in Egypt in June. The diminutive 24-year-old Bafana Bafana striker, on loan at second-tier Union SG in Belgium […]

BEIRA, Mozambique – Mozambique reported scores more deaths on Saturday from a cyclone and floods around southern Africa that have killed at least 732 people and left thousands in desperate need of help, many on rooftops and trees. (Please see bottom of page if you would like to help.) Help is needed swiftly, as evidenced […]

At least 417 people have died in Mozambique after Cyclone Idai led to catastrophic flooding, the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Saturday. And hundreds of thousands of children who survived need urgent help. (Updated from 293 deaths to 417.) “We’re going to have to wait until the flood waters […]

LUSAKA – Zambia banned an energy drink, which is also sold in South Africa, on Wednesday after it was shown to have been adulterated with the male sex booster Viagra, according to authorities in Ndola, the city of manufacture. The prohibition followed a complaint from Zambia’s medicine regulator in December suggesting that the drink – […]