Africa - Page 22

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Tuesday held a commissioning ceremony for the first of four massive oil rigs operated by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC).

France has 400 special forces soldiers stationed in junta-ruled Burkina to battle an Islamist insurgency, but relations have deteriorated.

Pope Francis offered condolences and prayers Tuesday to the victims and families of a lethal bombing by the Islamic State on a Christian church in eastern Congo that took the lives of at least 14 people and injured more than 60.

A group of unidentified “bandits” reportedly shouting “Allahu akbar!” shot and burned alive Father Isaac Achi on Sunday in Niger state, Nigeria – ending the life of a dedicated clergyman who had already survived a Boko Haram Christmas bombing, an abduction, and another shooting.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has canceled his trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, amid threats of a “national shutdown” to protest electricity price hikes amid widespread blackouts.

The government of Uganda on Thursday terminated a Chinese company’s contract to build a major railroad to Kenya and is now considering a replacement deal with a Turkish firm.

(AFP) – The French and German foreign ministers called on Africa to condemn Russian aggression in Ukraine on Friday, while pressing for deeper ties between the European Union and countries across the continent.

A report by the Rand Corporation on the growing influence of China and Russia in Africa found that Beijing is not far behind Moscow in exporting weapons and private military contractors to African nations, especially those participating in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

A renowned charitable organization called the Ethiopian World Federation (EWF) is asking the government of Malawi to investigate another charity, Raising Malawi, for human trafficking, sexual exploitation, fraud, and exposing children to “homosexual and transgender” propaganda. Raising Malawi was founded by 80s pop star Madonna Louise Ciccone, better known as simply Madonna.

The EU defended a trip by its top diplomat to Morocco, which has been linked, along with Qatar, to a graft scandal in the European Parliament.

Cape Town’s annual minstrel carnival resumed Monday after a three-year hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, with large musical troupes — many in blackface — parading through the center of the city.

The government of Morocco on Sunday became the first country to ban travelers from China outright as a massive wave of Chinese coronavirus sweeps across that country.

The Freedom City Mall in Uganda’s capital city of Kampala hosted a New Year’s Eve party that went horribly wrong on Saturday night, as a stampede broke out after the fireworks display and killed at least nine people, including several children.

A Nigerian nun has denounced ongoing targeted attacks on Christians in her country as well as the Vatican’s silence on the matter.

Boat migrants deported from the UK can look forward to having a “dignified life” in Africa, a spokeswoman for the Rwandan government has said.

The Supreme Court of Angola has ordered “preventive” seizure of $1 billion in assets held by Isabel dos Santos, daughter of former President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who died last July.

The U.N. prepared a troubling report on the insurgency in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) this week, warning that the conflict is intensifying and putting more civilians, including children, at risk of abduction, rape, and torture.

A visiting Harvard professor revealed to podcast host Joe Rogan the “heart-wrenching” and “subhuman” origins of nearly every lithium battery-powered tech device that is produced from Chinese-controlled cobalt slave mines. 

A gas tanker exploded in Johannesburg, South Africa on Christmas Eve, blowing the roof off a nearby hospital and causing injuries hundreds of yards away. On Tuesday, the death toll from the blast was raised to 18, half of them staff and patients at the badly damaged Tambo Memorial Hospital.

The bishop of Sokoto, Nigeria, denounced the regime of President Muhammadu Buhari in his Christmas message Sunday, insisting that Buhari’s legacy of nepotism and corruption will leave the nation in far worse shape than when he took office in 2015.

African Christians endured another grim year in 2022, especially in turbulent Somalia and Nigeria, where Islamist gangs such as Boko Haram and the Islamic State wiped out entire villages and Christian farmers clashed with herdsmen from the Fulani tribe. 

(AFP) – If the UK government has its way, the tens of thousands of migrants arriving on England’s southeastern shores each year, after crossing the Channel in small boats, will face swift deportation to Rwanda.

The Conversation Africa on Wednesday reported on a disturbing trend in Kenya: a spike in the number of female genital mutilations (FGM) performed during the long winter holiday season, which this year runs from November to January.

A Cameroon entrepreneur has devised solar-powered incubators to address the grievous shortage of care for premature babies in the country.

UK High Court rules govt plan for processing centres in Rwanda is lawful, yet further legal challenges likely await.

A hippopotamus attacked a two-year-old boy and swallowed half his body while he was playing outside his home in Uganda on December 4.

President Joe Biden pledged Wednesday to move South Africa off coal, its main source of energy, toward green energy sources — despite the fact that the country lacks the power to keep its electricity on 24 hours per day.

Chinese state media were not much impressed by the Biden administration’s announcement on Monday of $55 billion in economic, health, and security aid for African nations.

Andre de Ruyter, the chief executive officer of South Africa’s beleaguered state power company, Eskom, resigned Wednesday after he was scapegoated by the ruling African National Congress for ongoing blackouts.

World Health Organization (W.H.O.) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus revealed on Wednesday that he had received notice that his uncle in Ethiopia had been “murdered” in a massacre that resulted in the deaths of at least 50 other people in his village.

The White House on Monday announced $55 billion in economic aid, health care, and security support for Africa. President Joe Biden hosted a meeting for African leaders that began on Tuesday, during which the White House promised more details of the massive benefits package would be divulged.

“Hundreds of thousands” of migrants ostensibly from Ukraine are now expected to arrive in Europe over the coming months, the head of one NGO has claimed.

Authorities in Namibia have invited Germans to emigrate to the African nation to escape the ongoing European energy crisis.

Reuters on Monday published a report that accused the Nigerian military of massacring children during its battles with Boko Haram and other jihadi groups.

Americans are “less likely” to do business with major companies that are working with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to stifle the protests in the authoritarian country, a Convention of States Action/Trafalar Group survey released Friday found.

A former soccer star for Cameroon and current national team president was involved in a fight where he appeared to kick a man in the face outside the World Cup on Monday night.