A civil society group in Malawi wants MPs to be allowed to debate in their vernacular in parliament. The Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI) says the legislators would better express themselves in vernacular than in English. The centre director Sylvester Namiwa said the people would also understand the debates better if they were in their language. “We ...

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says more than 40,000 people across Africa are registered as missing as a result of conflict, migration and climate shocks. It says almost half of them are children. Conflicts in Ethiopia, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya and Cameroon are having a big impact. But the situation is most severe in ...

French President Emmanuel Macron has been urged to intervene on Ivory Coast’s President Alassane Ouattara’s bid for a third term in October’s election – which his opponents say is unconstitutional. Former Ivory Coast rebel leader Guillaume Soro has told President Macron in a letter that “Ivorians have noticed France’s deafening silence” on the matter. He said France had hailed Mr ...

The World Food Programme (WFP) has said serious hunger and malnutrition looms for millions of refugees across eastern Africa who depend on assistance from the food agency to survive. It said that the socio-economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has reduced vital funding from donors. The WFP has already reduced food or cash transfers by up to 30% for more ...

Deputy Minister of Defence, Maj. Rtd. Derrick Oduro has revealed that the two soldiers who were brutally assaulted at Dome Faase near Obom Domeabra in the Ga South Municipality by irate residents were on official duty (Operation Calm Life) patrols. According to him, the soldiers were on a legitimate assignment and should not have been subjected to such ordeal. The ...

Former President Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings has detailed one incident at Afiadenyigba between Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings and Ernestina Naadu Mills, former first and second lady respectively, which Prof. Kwamena Ahwoi has stated in his book Working with Rawlings that, it was the main reason Rawlings fell out with his vice president Prof. J.E. Atta-Mills. Prof Kwamena Ahwoi wrote that he was ...

Former President Jerry John Rawlings has respondented to the now popular book published by Prof Kwamena Ahwoi titled ‘Working with Rawlings. The book stirred controversy for the bad-timing of its release (months to the December elections) and what some claim to be half-truths. Read the full response from the former President below The Integrity of truth – Statement from the office of ...

Amnesty International says it has documented an alarming escalation in attacks and abductions in northern Nigeria, with more than 1,100 deaths since the beginning of the year. The rights group says the authorities have left rural communities at the mercy of rampaging gunmen and describes the lack of protection as “utterly shameful”. The research focused on seven states in north-west ...

Talks in Mali aimed at resolving the political situation in the aftermath of last week’s coup have ended without agreement. West African leaders have said that the deposed President, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, should be reinstated. But envoys from regional body Ecowas failed to convince Mali’s military leaders that this was the way forward. Mr Keïta faced huge street protests before ...

Women in Ghana have lauded the governments for its promise to scrap the 20% luxury tax on imported sanitary products in the country. Bridge for Equity, a non-governmental organization has called on the government to factor in a local sanitary manufacturing company in the One District One Factory policy to help cut down the cost of sanitary products. For years, ...