BBC Reports from north-eastern Nigeria say two suicide bombers attacked a mosque during early morning prayers. The attack took place in the town of Gwoza in the north-eastern Borno state on Sunday morning. Reports in the Nigerian media say three people died when a suicide bomber ran into a group of worshippers in a mosque
BBC The UN has called for international help to fight huge swarms of desert locusts sweeping through east Africa. A spokesman for the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), called for aid to “avert any threats to food security, livelihoods, malnutrition”. Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are all struggling with “unprecedented” and “devastating” swarms of the
BBC A banker implicated in the embezzlement and money-laundering case against Africa’s richest woman, Isabel dos Santos, has been found dead in Lisbon. Nuno Ribeiro da Cunha managed the account of oil firm Sonangol, formerly chaired by Dos Santos, at the small Portuguese lender EuroBic. His death, on Wednesday, was reported on Thursday soon after
BBC Somalia is still ranked the world’s most corrupt country, according to the just released 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). The index is published annually by Transparency International (TI) and assesses the perceived levels of public sector corruption in 180 countries. According to TI, the country’s poor rule of law has created room for everything
BBC Africa’s richest woman, Isabel Dos Santos, has been formally accused of embezzlement by prosecutors in Angola. Attorney General Helder Pitta Gros said the allegations related to her time as chairwoman of state oil firm Sonangol. Several other people have also been accused alongside Dos Santos. Pitta Gros said an international arrest warrant would be
AFP Tanzania will give rehouse 36 lions following a slew of attacks by the big cats on people and cattle, environmental authorities said Saturday. The lions, an increasingly endangered species, live on the edge of safari mecca the Serengeti National Park, but have been increasingly affected by encroaching human activity. Eleven of the group have
AFP Four people were killed and several shops and vehicles burnt after thieves breached a fuel pipeline in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub, causing an explosion, emergency services said on Monday. The incident, which happened on Sunday evening in the Abule-Egba area, is the latest in a long string of such accidents. “We recovered the bodies
AFP Lesotho’s prime minister has bowed to pressure to step down over evidence allegedly linking him to the murder of his estranged wife, the ruling party said on Thursday. Senior members of the All Basotho Convention (ABC) party have accused Thomas Thabane of hampering investigations into the killing. They called for his resignation last week.
BBC There are reports from central Mali that at least 15 people have been killed in an overnight attack on a Fulani village. A security official told AFP news agency that some of the victims had their throats slit during the attack on Sinda village near the town of Douentza in the Mopti region of
AFP The United States wants to reduce its military presence in Africa, Washington’s top military officer said, as France hosts Sahel leaders as it seeks to bolster the fight against jihadists in the region. Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, said resources “could be reduced and then shifted, either to
BBC Police in Lesotho are looking for Maesaiah Thabane, the wife of the prime minister, for questioning in connection to the killing of his former wife two years ago. Mystery surrounds Thabane’s whereabouts since Friday when a court issued a warrant for her arrest after she failed to appear for questioning. She was given until
BBC Niger’s government has said that the number of soldiers killed in last week’s attack on a military base has reached 89. It is the highest number of casualties suffered by the army in a single attack since it started fighting Islamist militants who spill over from neighbouring Mali in 2015. The government has declared
BBC The number of people killed by a measles epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo has passed 6,000, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said. The WHO says the epidemic is the world’s largest and fastest moving. Around 310,000 suspected measles cases have been reported since the start of 2019, the WHO says. The
AP Four small children were shot dead while trying to take refuge from the latest al-Shabab extremist attack in Kenya early Tuesday, authorities said. A Kenyan national police statement said the attackers targeted a telecommunications mast in eastern Garissa county near the border with Somalia, where the al-Qaida-linked extremist group is based. Police officers on
Bloomberg ALIKO Dangote, Africa’s richest man, became $4.3 billion richer in 2019 as his fortune continued to grow on the back of investments in cement, flour and sugar. The 62-year-old Nigerian businessman and Africa’s most prominent industrialist ended the decade with a net worth of almost $15 billion, making him the 96th wealthiest man in
AFP Four children were among 18 people killed on Thursday when a Sudanese military transport plane crashed after take-off from West Darfur state, an army spokesperson said. The plane crashed five minutes after take-off from an airport in the state capital El Geneina, after delivering aid to the area, which had been hit by recent
BBC The president of Zambia Edgar Lungu says his government has asked the United States to withdraw its ambassador, after the diplomat criticised the jailing of two men for being in a gay relationship. Daniel Foote said he was “horrified” last month when a judge sentenced the men to 15 years in prison. He called
AFP A group of 47 men has appeared in a Nigerian court charged with homosexuality, a crime punishable by 14 years in prison in the country, their attorney said on Thursday. The men, who were arrested in a Lagos hotel during a police raid in 2017, have been accused of “committing homosexual acts” in a
BBC Zimbabwean First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa has asked manufacturers and retailers to lower prices of food and basic commodities, the state-owned Herald newspaper reports. Mnangagwa reportedly urged the traders to consider the plight of low income earners. “I implore all of us to continuously work on our pricing models so that they are reflective of
BBC Roughly a quarter of Zimbabwe’s population will receive food aid from the UN to avert a hunger crisis. The World Food Programme (WFP) says it will provide 4.1 million Zimbabweans with cereal, pulses and vegetable oil. Around a half of the country’s population is facing hunger with 7.7 million reported to be experiencing severe
