By BBC.com Denmark is withholding $9.8m in aid to Tanzania after “unacceptable homophobic comments” from a senior politician, a minister says. Development minister Ulla Tornaes did not name the official but said she was “very concerned” by the comments. Last month, Paul Makonda, commissioner for the commercial capital Dar es Salaam, called on the public
Daily Nation President Uhuru Kenyatta directed the Education ministry to let the management of schools originally managed by churches revert to the different faiths, a move that could take the education system decades back. The President also directed that ownership of the land on which church-built schools stand be given to the churches, meaning the
AFP Suspected cholera cases have jumped in northeast Nigeria where Boko Haram violence has forced tens of thousands of people to seek refuge in crowded camps, the Norwegian Refugee Council said on Monday. The humanitarian group said 10 000 people have been affected by the fast-spreading cholera outbreak and 175 people have died in the
dpa At least 9 children were killed when angered pupils allegedly set their school and dormitory on fire in south-western Uganda, police said Monday. The suspected perpetrators had been recently expelled from the Saint Bernard Secondary School in Rakai district, police spokesman Emilio Kayima told dpa. An unknown number of the injured children were rushed
AFP Tanzanian President John Magufuli has ordered the army to buy up the entire country’s crop of cashew nuts after private companies refused to pay the price fixed by his government. The move comes just days after Magufuli fired Agriculture Minister Charles Tizeba and Trade Minister Charles Mwijage for “failing in their obligations” to the
By AFP President Paul Kagame insisted on Sunday that Rwanda’s courts will operate freely in the case of leading dissident politician Diane Rwigara, as prosecutors push for her to face 22 years in jail. Rwigara went on trial in the capital Kigali on Wednesday for inciting insurrection and forgery. The 37-year-old denies the charges as
By AFP THE presidential nominee of Nigeria’s main opposition party alleged on Sunday that he was “intimidated” by armed government agents who searched his private plane at the Abuja airport. Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) who will challenge incumbent Muhammadu Buhari in February, said he was manhandled upon his arrival
By Associated Press PALERMO: Representatives of Libya’s quarrelling factions and of countries keen on stabilising the North African nation were attending a conference in Sicily Monday aimed at finding a political settlement to bolster the fight against Islamic militants and stop illegal migrants from crossing the Mediterranean to Europe’s southern shores. The driving force behind
By Associated Press NAIROBI: Somali hospital and police sources say the death toll from Friday’s bombings outside a hotel in Mogadishu has risen to 53 with over 100 injured. Capt. Mohamed Hussein, a senior Somali police officer, said many of the injured suffered horrific wounds, raising fears that death toll could rise further. The figure
www.msn.com Rates of female genital mutilation (FGM) have fallen dramatically among girls in Africa in the last two decades, according to new research. The study, published in BMJ Global Health, cited a “huge and significant decline” among under-14s. The practice involves removing all or part of a girl or woman’s external genitalia, including the clitoris.
AFP The leader of one of two factions of jihadist group Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, claimed a series of attacks in northeast Nigeria in a video message obtained by AFP on Friday. The firebrand leader said his fighters were responsible for a raid on the military on Monday in Kumshe village, near the Cameroon border,
Africa News Protesting residents in a part of Ghana’s capital, Accra, on Thursday blocked vehicular movement on a major highway, after a pedestrian was hit and killed by a speeding vehicle earlier in the day. The increasing spate of deadly accidents on the Adenta – Madina – Aburi highway had been the subject of a
Africa News The kidnapped Cameroonian students from PSS Nkwen have finally been reunited with their families. Parents where allowed to take their children home as the school is in complete lockdown. Some of them narrated the ordeal as they recount the horrific moments when the abductors broke in. “It was around 3 a.m. in the
AFP Zambia’s government accused the opposition on Friday of fuelling “xenophobic” attacks on Chinese nationals after a spate of violent incidents targeting the community and its businesses. Anti-Chinese sentiment in Zambia has grown as the government increasingly hands lucrative contracts to the country while borrowing huge sums from Beijing. Vice President Inonge Wina told parliament
Africa News Malawi’s government is headed for a constitutional crisis following President Peter Mutharika decision to sack Vice President Saulos Chilima on Wednesday in a cabinet reshuffle. Chilima is seen as the biggest threat to Mutharika ahead of next year’s presidential election, having resigned from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) party, accusing it of
By AFP More than 400 buffaloes believed to have been chased by lions drowned in a river in northern Bostwana this week, the government said. The mass drowning occurred in Chobe River near the border with Namibia. Early investigations by authorities in both countries “suggest that an exceptionally large buffalo herd was grazing in Namibia
By AFP Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi has used his first state-of-the-nation address to openly attack his predecessor Ian Khama in an unprecedented clash in a country that prides itself on stability. Masisi, who was hand-picked by Khama, took power in April when Khama stepped aside after serving the maximum 10 years in office. But the
By AFP Prosecutors on Wednesday requested that Rwanda’s leading dissident politician be handed 22 years in prison for inciting insurrection and forgery as her trial opened in the capital Kigali. “We request that Diane Rwigara be imprisoned for 15 years for inciting insurrection and seven years for forging documents,” prosecutors told the single-day hearing at
By Associated Press YAOUNDE: The 79 students kidnapped by unidentified gunmen from a school in Cameroon have been released, but two of the three staff members abducted with them are still being held, a church official said Wednesday. The students, aged between 11 and 17, were brought to a church near the regional capital of
eNCA DA leader Mmusi Maimane says he has proof that president Cyril Ramaphosa’s son Andile received payment from the controversial company Bosasa. Maimane revealed proof of payment that shows money paid into a trust for Ramaphosa’s son Andile, during questions around the looting of VBS Mutual Bank. He says he also has an affidavit from
