Africa - Page 63

Kenyan police arrested a Chinese motorcycle dealer operating in the country this week after an employee recorded the man berating his native Kenyan employees, calling them “monkey people” and referring to Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta as a “monkey.”

South Africa slid into an official recession Tuesday. The main culprit was a sharp contraction in the agricultural sector, which has been under political assault this year as the ruling African National Congress has pledged “expropriation without compensation.”

A 24-year-old Egyptian named Abdullah Ayman Abdel-Sameea was arrested outside the U.S. Embassy in Cairo on Tuesday after his backpack burst into flames. Authorities described the incident as a botched terrorist attack that fortunately did not harm anyone.

China’s debt colonization of Africa is well underway, as one African nation after another takes out gigantic loans from Chinese banks to build infrastructure projects that appear financially unsustainable. Kenya is one of the most heavily indebted countries, but President Uhuru Kenyatta is on his way to Beijing for a summit at which he will reaffirm his commitment to the Belt and Road initiative.

A disputed derogatory remark about the poor state of African countries attributed to U.S. President Donald Trump during a recent private Oval Office meeting sparked a global political, diplomatic, and media firestorm.

Nigerian news agencies reported Wednesday of multiple child suicide bombings targeting a market in the northeastern regional capital Maiduguri, killing at least 12 and confirming fears that the Boko Haram jihadist group continues to have the ability to use child captives for terrorist activity.

To the surprise of United Nations officials, and with very little elaboration, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni accused the U.N. of “preserving terrorism in the Democratic Republic of Congo” on Wednesday.

Contents: Cameroon crisis escalates as English-speakers flee to Nigeria to escape French-speakers’ violence; Cameroon Catholic Church splits over government ‘barbarism’ and ‘growing genocide’

The clothing retailer H&M shuttered its stores in South Africa after protesters flooded several locations and destroyed merchandise, according to several reports.

A Nigerian man identifying himself as Alhaji Adebayo prompted outrage in Nigeria and beyond by posting graphic images of female genital mutilation on Facebook on January 3.

Promises by China that its port project in Cameroon would bring an economic revival to the region have fallen short.

Contents: Tunisia anti-austerity activists call for huge protests on Friday; Tunisia protests evoke memories of the 2011 ‘Arab Spring’

Contents: Tit-for-tat violence between Nigeria’s Muslim herders and Christian farmers becomes more serious; Nigeria searches for solutions to problem of herders vs farmers

Nigeria has begun to pull out thousands of citizens from Libya following reports that Libyan smugglers and authorities have forced hundreds of them into slavery.

Supporters and former members of the regime of Muammar Qaddafi in Libya may be planning to organize for a chance to run the country again after son Saif al-Islam Qaddafi announced, through an intermediary, that he would run for president in 2018, Bloomberg reports.

Zimbabwe’s former Public Service Minister Patrick Zhuwao, nephew of deposed dictator Robert Mugabe, claimed in a column published Saturday that the current regime in Harare has “humiliated and ill-treated” Mugabe.

Another Egyptian singer was arrested on charges of “inciting debauchery” after releasing a sexually suggestive music video, it has emerged.

Some Nigerians who were sold, leased, and used as slaves after being detained by Libyan authorities shared their horrific ordeal, telling the BBC that captives are often beaten, starved, raped, and even killed by prison guards.

Some American analysts are calling on investors in the United States to re-engage with Zimbabwe, ignoring the unrest that has been plaguing the African nation since the military’s removal of the continent’s oldest dictator Robert Mugabe last November.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari once again asserted that his government has defeated Boko Haram, this time as the jihadist group’s leader reportedly appeared in a video claiming responsibility for a series of recent attacks in the African nation and insisting the terrorist organization is “in good health.”

Over 700 people abducted by the African Islamist terrorist organization Boko Haram have successfully escaped captivity in Northeastern Nigeria, the country’s military has announced.