AP When her contractions became unbearably painful, 18-year-old Perseverance Kanyoza rushed to a maternity hospital in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare. But the doors were closed amid a weekslong strike by public health workers. With no money for private care, panic set in. A hospital guard directed her to a tiny apartment in the poor suburb of
BBC Demonstrators thronged the streets of the Algerian capital on Friday to renew their opposition to a presidential election they say will keep in power a political elite rejected by the people. The protest came two days ahead of the start of campaigning for the December 12 vote. Demonstrations have gripped Algeria every week since
BBC Police in Mozambique are detaining a man in the northern Nampula province on suspicion of exhuming the bodies of his parents and an uncle to extract their bones. The suspect told police that he was enticed by a businessman who had promised him a motorcycle and over $300 (£234) in cash. The businessman is
AFP Sixty-seven people arrested by police in a Kampala bar popular with gays were charged with “common nuisance” on Tuesday, but rights activists said it was a bid to intimidate the LGBT community. The police raided the Ram Bar in the heart of the Ugandan capital on Sunday and arrested 125 people, 58 of whom
BBC In a major step in the fight against Ebola, the World Health Organization (WHO) has approved the world’s first ever vaccine against Ebola. The drug, called Ervebo and manufactured by MERCK pharmaceuticals, was being used in an experimental phase in the Democratic Republic of Congo. ‘ But now the WHO says there is sufficient
BBC Scores of Kenyan students and teachers have been hospitalised after a dangerous chemical was used during the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) Chemistry examination. One student suffered serious burns on his face during the practical examination while others were hospitalised after suffering dizziness. Apollo Otieno was heating the chemical xylene to observe its
Fin24 New bank notes and coins finally hit the streets of Zimbabwe on Tuesday after a false start the day before, with depositors forming long queues at banks and ATMs. The new notes are part of President Emerson Mnangagwa’s monetary reforms to have Zimbabwe revert to using its own currency in place of the US
Aljazeera Zimbabwe has suspended imports of livestock and meat from South Africa for the second time this year after an outbreak of foot and mouth in the north of its neighbouring country. In a statement on Friday, the agriculture ministry called the move “a precautionary measure designed to prevent the spread of the infection into
BBC Zimbabwe’s central bank is due to begin circulating new banknotes on Monday, which it says will help to ease a severe cash shortage as the country suffers a deepening economic crisis. The bank has played down fears that the move will fuel inflation, insisting that the new two- and five- dollar notes will not
BBC A seven-year-old albino girl in Zambia has had her hand chopped off by unknown people as she was sleeping. The incident happened on Wednesday in the northern mining town of Kitwe, local police chief Charity Katanga said. She said the assailants used a machete to chop off the girl’s hand. “Unknown criminals forced their
BBC At least 37 people have been killed and 60 wounded in an attack on a mining company convoy in Burkina Faso, authorities say. Five buses carrying staff of Canadian firm Semafo were ambushed on Wednesday about 40km (24 miles) from the eastern town of Boungou, reports say. A military escort vehicle was reportedly struck
BBC Police in Nigeria have opened investigations after they rescued 15 people detained in a prayer house in the main city of Lagos. The male and female victims, who were between ages of 19 and 50, were in chains, Bala Elkana, the police public relations officer in Lagos state, said in a statement on Thursday.
AP The World Health Organization says more than 7 million cases of malaria have been reported in Burundi this year. Officials blame the outbreak on factors including the lack of protective bed nets, problems with medicines and climate change. The U.N. health agency says malaria has killed nearly 2,700 people this year in the East
AFP More than two million Zambians are facing “severe” food insecurity after drought and flooding reduced harvests, the Red Cross said. Southern Africa is grappling with one of the worst droughts in decades after months of erratic rainfall and record-high temperatures. Zambia Red Cross warned the drought had left an estimated 2.3 million people facing
AFP Algeria’s election authority has registered 22 candidates for a December presidential election, including two former prime ministers under former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the official APS agency reported on Sunday. Former premiers Ali Benflis and Abdelmadjid Tebboune had submitted their candidacies for the December 12 vote before the deadline for nominations passed Saturday. Both are
AFP Incumbent President Filipe Nyusi was declared the landslide winner in Mozambique’s election this month, despite claims of widespread cheating, the electoral commission announced on Sunday. Nyusi of the ruling Frelimo party won 73% of the vote, ahead of Ossufo Momade of Renamo, the rebel group turned opposition party, with almost 22%, commission chairperson Abdul
BBC Prominent Ethiopian activist and media owner Jawar Mohammed has appealed for calm amid protests in which at least 20 people have been killed. Demonstrators had camped outside his home in the capital Addis Ababa in a show of solidarity after Jawar said the police were trying to remove his bodyguards at his house. The
AFP Botswana goes to the polls on Wednesday in a hotly contested general election that could test the country’s traditionally stable politics, as the ruling party faces its toughest challenge yet. The historic Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) – whose rule has been unfettered since independence from Britain in 1966 – was shaken up earlier this
BBC Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has said his country can offer help to Africa without the conditions attached by Western powers. “We see how an array of Western countries are resorting to pressure, intimidation and blackmail of sovereign African governments,” Putin said in an interview with TASS news agency, ahead of a summit with African
BBC Authorities in Nigeria say they have freed nearly 150 students including 22 females from another purported Koranic school in the northern Kaduna state. This was the fourth such operation in a month and brings to more than 1,000 the number of people released from religious schools, also serving as rehabilitation centres for children with
