Africa - Page 21

Nelson Mandela, the iconic anti-apartheid leader who brought multiracial democracy to South Africa, was indirectly betrayed by his wife, Winnie, to the apartheid police, according to a new book.

The UK vowed to maintain support for Britons trapped in Sudan but said conditions had grown too dangerous to continue evacuation flights.

The United States has carried out its first evacuation of American citizens and permanent residents from Sudan since war broke out in the capital two weeks ago.

The Egyptian government has denounced Netflix’s upcoming docudrama series Queen Cleopatra, saying the streamer’s decision to portray the ancient queen as a black woman represents a “falsification of Egyptian history and a blatant historical fallacy.”

The World Health Organization (W.H.O.) on Tuesday warned that fighting in Sudan has created a “high risk of biological hazard” because one of the warring factions has seized control of a laboratory that houses measles, polio, cholera, and other pathogens.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday claimed that only “some dozen” Americans out of an estimated 16,000 who may still be in Sudan have expressed interest in leaving.

Police in Kenya on Monday reported they have recovered at least 58 bodies from forest land occupied by the Good News International Church, a cult whose members believed they could ascend to Heaven by starving themselves.

Rush to evacuate embassy staff amid struggle for power in Sudan intensifies but some feel abandoned as western civilians get left behind.

President Joe Biden on Saturday ordered the evacuation of U.S. embassy staff in Khartoum, Sudan, amid worsening fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, a rival paramilitary force.

Yoweri Museveni, the longtime authoritarian president of Uganda, announced on Thursday that he would not sign into law a legislative bill that would greatly expand criminal punishment for individuals suspected of being gay, including proscribing the death penalty for a new crime: “aggravated homosexuality.”

The government of China denied on Tuesday details in a report accusing its companies of bribing Nigerian terrorists in exchange for safe access to mineral-rich territories in the African country.

Netflix is being accused of “blackwashing” the history of Egypt’s famed queen Cleopatra in its new docuseries that stars a black woman.

A U.S. Embassy diplomatic convoy came under fire in Sudan on Monday with local paramilitary groups blamed for the assault. No injuries have been reported.

President Joe Biden should grant the prize of short-term amnesty to illegal migrants from the chaotic and huge African country of the Congo, says the leading D.C.-based advocacy group for wealthy West Coast investors.

Ghana on Wednesday became the first country to approve use of the R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine developed by Oxford University.

Nigerian presidential candidate Peter Obi was detained at Heathrow Airport in London on Good Friday and interrogated for hours, apparently because someone had been impersonating him in London.

A man pretending to be a devout Muslim woman wearing a full niqab was tossed out of a chess tournament in Nairobi, Kenya.

The Premium Times of Nigeria on Tuesday published an update from the Nigerian government on its war against oil poachers. According to the Eastern Command of the Nigerian Navy, 27 smuggling vessels were captured over the past year, and 294 illegal refineries were located and shut down.

April 14 marks the ninth anniversary of the tragic abduction of nearly 300 school girls by the Nigerian Islamic terror group Boko Haram, and dozens of girls are still missing to this day. 

Uganda’s independent Nile Post on Monday reported the “worrying development” that parents are hiding their children to keep health officials from discovering they have contracted measles.

Last weekend saw a rash of mass casualty attacks in Africa, with atrocities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burkina Faso, and Nigeria claimed by the Islamic State (ISIS) and other terrorist groups.

The president of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, implemented a full ban this weekend on carrying firearms on the streets of Mogadishu, the nation’s violent capital.

Rwanda marked on Friday the 29th anniversary of the 1994 genocide of ethnic Tutsis, a nationwide massacre that lasted 100 days and killed over 1 million people.

The results of the South African experiment are in, and they are conclusive: democratic socialism has failed, at least in a diverse society with a recent history of conflict.

A South African pilot kept his cool and successfully landed a plane after finding a venomous snake under his seat.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni responded to criticism of his country’s draconian new laws against same-sex relationships by urging other African leaders to join him in resisting “the promotion of homosexuality.”

The Premium Times of Nigeria reported on Monday that a panel investigating human rights violations in the insurgent-plagued northeast has heard testimony from 50 witnesses on abuses perpetrated by the Nigerian military, including mass abortions and the murder of children.

Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the son of Ugandan strongman President Yoweri Museveni and a general in the Ugandan Army, said on Thursday that his country would send troops to defend Moscow if the Western world goes to war against Russia.

South African writer Jeremy Gordin, 70, was murdered on Saturday in his home, sending shockwaves through the literary and journalistic world.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has urged travelers to Tanzania to take precautions after an outbreak of the Marburg virus. 

Former South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius, who was convicted of murdering model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in 2013, was denied parole.

China’s state-run Global Times on Monday mocked the Biden administration for trying to compete with China for the affections of Africa by spending a fraction of the money Beijing has invested in the continent.

A manhunt is underway for a convicted rapist whom South African authorities say faked his own death to escape from prison while serving a life sentence.

A former general has called on the EU to act militarily in Africa, blaming PMC Wagner Group for the current wave of illegal immigrants. 

Vice President Kamala Harris visited Ghana on Monday. She praised the “democratic principles” of President Nana Akufo-Addo and pledged $139 million in assistance for the coming fiscal year, plus a share of various regional initiatives, including economic support and counter-terrorism programs.

An in-depth genetic study of the German composer’s DNA has dispelled longstanding myths and claims the composer had African roots.