South Africa’s leading opposition party on Monday 31 July 2023 accused its closest rival of inciting ethnic violence during a mass rally — shutting the door on a broad coalition ahead of next year’s elections. Julius Malema, head of the radical leftist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), led chants of “Kill the Boer, the farmer” — […]

Authorities in Australia have lost hope of finding survivors after a military helicopter plunged into the sea during war games over the weekend, Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said Monday 31 July 2023. Rescuers initially clung to slim hopes they would find the four crew members alive, but those were dashed after the discovery of […]

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Sunday 30 July 2023 called on Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas to end “security collaboration” with Israel and “political arrests”, according to participants at a meeting of Palestinian factions in Egypt. Haniyeh, whose Islamist movement has controlled the blockaded Gaza Strip since 2007, made the remarks during the talks in the […]

Firebrand Senegalese opposition politician Ousmane Sonko said Sunday 30 July 2023 he had started a hunger strike from custody after being arrested this week, as his lawyers condemned his arrest. Senegal’s public prosecutor on Saturday announced seven new charges against the politician — a vocal critic of President Macky Sall who has faced a string […]

Sudan’s paramilitaries have ordered civilians to vacate homes in the capital’s south, several residents said Sunday, as fighting between the forces of rival generals raged in the western Darfur region. ALSO READ: RSF envoy urges peace in Sudan and Darfur “Members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) told me I had 24 hours to leave […]

Five people have been shot dead in South Africa’s Johannesburg in suspected violence between rival illegal mining gangs, police said Sunday. ALSO READ: GRAPHIC CONTENT: 20 zama zamas shot over illegal mining turf war The five bodies, believed to be of illegal miners, were found near an abandoned mine shaft clsoe to a slum in the […]

Authorities in Nigeria’s northeastern Adamawa state on Sunday imposed a statewide round-the-clock curfew to stop widespread looting of food stores in the state capital Yola. ALSO READ: NEW RECORD: Nigerian boy eats most watermelon in 30 seconds [Video] The looting saw hundreds of residents break into public and private warehouses storing grains and other commodities and […]

Kenyan President William Ruto said Sunday 30 July 2023 he would “not negotiate about the safety of our country” with his rival after agreeing to dialogue to end violent protests against his government. Both sides announced on Saturday that they would join a committee to resolve their differences “amicably” following a sustained campaign of opposition-led […]

Niger’s putschists named an army general as the new leader of the unstable jihadist-hit nation on Friday, the third day since elected President Mohamed Bazoum was detained. Former colonial master France said hours earlier that it did not consider the coup “final”, adding there was time for plotters to heed international calls to leave democratically-elected […]

Zimbabwe’s leading opposition party on Thursday 27 July 2023 suffered a major blow ahead of national elections next month as a court disqualified all its candidates vying for seats in the nation’s second-largest city. The decision paves the way for the ruling ZANU-PF party to scoop up Bulawayo’s 12 constituencies in the August 23 vote, […]

Vladimir Putin gifted the president of Zimbabwe a helicopter, Harare said on Thursday 27 july 2023, as the Russian leader courts the backing of African leaders in Saint Petersburg. Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa is among those attending a two-day Russia-Africa summit that is being scrutinised as a test of Putin’s support in the continent after […]

Algerians in the fire-ravaged northeast were Thursday 27 July 2023 counting the cost of the wildfires that killed 34 people, destroyed homes and reduced vast forest areas to scorched wastelands. The wildfires raged for days, mainly through the mountain forests of the Kabylia region on the Mediterranean coast, fanned by winds during the blistering summer […]

Rockets pummelled the Sudanese capital on Thursday 27 July 2023, witnesses said, as paramilitaries attacked a key air force base north of Khartoum and claimed to have killed and wounded “dozens” of soldiers. Residents reported “heavy artillery shelling” and fighter jets overhead the northwest of the city, while drones belonging to the paramilitary Rapid Support […]

Scenes of looting, closed stores, blocked roads — the demonstrations organised by Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga since March threaten to make the East African nation’s already fragile economic situation even worse. Odinga’s Azimio coalition blames the government for a cost-of-living crisis and accuses it of adding to Kenyans’ misery by introducing hefty new taxes […]

The number of climate change-related court cases has more than doubled since 2017 as people turn to litigation to try to fight global warming, the UN said Thursday 27 July 2023. Courts are increasingly becoming a venue to force governments and businesses to take action as the human-caused warming of Earth becomes ever more destructive […]

Suspected Islamic State-affiliated jihadists have killed 32 people, including 25 herders, in two attacks in northeast Nigeria’s Borno state, anti-jihadist militia told AFP Thursday 27 July 2023. The attacks happened on Tuesday in the Lake Chad area, where the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) controls swathes of territory. In the first attack, ISWAP fighters riding in […]

African migrants pleaded to be saved from a desert zone between Libya and Tunisia on Wednesday 26 July 2023, weeks after Tunisian authorities allegedly dumped dozens of them there with nothing. “We are dying. We are dying by the minute,” a Nigerian who wanted to be identified only by his first name, George, told AFP. “Please, […]

Here are five things to know about Niger, where the country’s president was being detained by guards in what the African Union on Wednesday 27 July 2023 condemned as an “attempted coup”. Niger, a vast West African country that is two-thirds desert, is one of the world’s poorest nations. Half of its 26.2 million people […]

We are not alone — and American authorities are covering up the evidence, a former US intelligence officer told a congressional committee on Wednesday. David Grusch testified that he “absolutely” believes the government is in possession of unidentified anomalous phenomenon, or UAPs — which has replaced UFO in official parlance — as well as remains of their […]

Barbie dolls are flying off the shelves in South Africa as “Barbie” movie mania has hit the country’s shores, with toy stores seeing a cotton candy-hued boom in sales. The iconic toy, known for its blonde mane, blue eyes, and pink clothing, has been a household name in the southern African nation for decades — but […]

Rwanda considers Belgium’s refusal to approve the appointment of its ambassador as “unfortunate”, a government spokesman said Wednesday 26 July 2023, adding that the move “does not bode well” for bilateral relations. Vincent Karega, Rwanda’s former ambassador to South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) — from where he was expelled last October […]

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, […]