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Tag: Africa

AP

Pregnant Boko Haram Victim: I’m Keeping My Captor’s Baby

Boko Haram kidnapped Um Haleema when she was 16 years old. The militants forced her to watch them slaughter men, women, and children. They also forced her into marrying a man she hated. She escaped six months later, but found out she was pregnant–and is keeping her captor’s baby.

AP Photo

Sierra Leone: Mothers Refuse to Vaccinate Children for Fear of Resurgent Ebola

Doctors in Port Loko, a northwestern region of Sierra Leone outside Freetown, are reporting a significant drop in the number of mothers bringing their children to hospitals for routine vaccinations. The mothers, they say, fear exposing their children to a resurgent Ebola virus, and in keeping them from hospitals are risking triggering the spread of polio or measles.

AP Photo

Ebola Resurgent: African States Report Alarming Rise in Cases

Medical workers in Guinea and Sierra Leone reported 31 new cases of Ebola in the pass week, a significant increase following two months of relative decline that had the United Nations close to declaring the outbreak over. Lax monitoring rules and potential smuggling of Ebola patients past medical officials may be to blame, journalists report.

Antonio Parrinello/Reuters

UK Captain: 500,000 Africans Could Sail to Italy This Summer

ROME (AP) — Naval vessels from Italy, Britain, Ireland and other countries steamed toward the waters off Libya on Saturday to rescue the latest wave of migrants from smugglers’ boats. British authorities warned that up to 500,000 people could attempt the perilous crossing this summer.

AFP

Tanzania Warns Politicians: Witchcraft Using Albino Body Parts Will Not Win You Elections

Tanzania’s federal government has been forced to issue a warning to politicians competing in the October elections not to engage in witchcraft in an attempt to improve their odds of winning, reminding candidates that witchcraft was banned nationally in January and any attacks on people with albinism–whose bodies are used in good luck potions–will be prosecuted.

AFP PHOTO FRANK PERRY

France and Morocco Announce Counter-Terrorism Cooperation

Following a rocky year in their often-delicate relationship, France and Morocco have announced they will cooperate on counter-terrorist activities — especially in light of the ISIS threat, whose militants has been recruiting Muslims in both countries.

NBC News

Boko Haram Suicide Bombing at Nigerian Mosque Kills 16

VICE NEWS: Boko Haram militants reportedly fired rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) during an attack early Saturday morning in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri that left at least 30 people dead. A suicide bomber also targeted a mosque near the city’s main market on Saturday afternoon, reportedly killing at least 16 people.

Asylum Seekers

Italy Hands Smuggler Unprecedented Life Sentence as Europe Prepares for Migrant Deluge

A court in Catania, Italy, has sentenced 23-year-old Haj Hammouda Radouan to life in prison for manning an illegal migrant ship that capsized in the Mediterranean, killing an estimated 200 people. It is the first such sentence in Italy’s history, a precedent arriving just as the nation prepares for the summer rise in African migrants attempting to reach European shores.

Facebook, AP Photo

Kenyan Lawyer Will Offers President Livestock, Sour Milk in Exchange for Malia Obama

“My love is real,” Kenyan attorney Felix Kiprono Matagei tells Kenyan news outlet The Nairobian, in an interview in which he explains his plan to request Malia Obama’s hand in marriage from her father when the President visits Kenya in July. Kiprono is offering 50 cows, 70 sheep and 30 goats as “bride price,” and vows to woo the elder Obama daughter with traditional sour milk.