World News

The authorities in Niger have announced that the country’s airspace will reopen for international flights in the coming days. Like most countries around the world, Niger closed its airports and land borders in March as part of efforts to contain coronavirus. In a statement, the government says after assessing the situation, international passenger flights will now resume on 1 August. ...

Juliana Amato Lumumba, the daughter of the DR Congo’s first Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, is demanding the return of her father’s “relics”, in a letter to Belgium’s monarch, Philippe. The letter, cited by AFP, was written on June 30, which was the 60th anniversary of the independence of the DR Congo from Belgium. “We, Lumumba’s children, call for the just return ...

The president of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mnangagwa, has ordered the security forces to enforce a dusk-to-dawn curfew from Wednesday. He said this was necessary to bring under control the coronavirus outbreak, which has killed 26 people and infected close to 2,000 others. Zimbabweans are being urged to stay at home all other times except to get food and water, or for ...

At least 23 soldiers have been killed in an ambush in northwestern Nigeria. Armed militants opened fire on the soldiers as they walked through a forested part of the Jibia district in Katsina State, security sources said on Sunday. So far, the bodies of 23 soldiers have been accounted for while some are still missing. The toll could be higher ...

Tanzania’s electoral commission has set 28 October as the date for general elections, the Citizen newspaper reports. The commission’s chairman Justice Semistocles Kaijage has told a media briefing that election campaigns will start on 26 August and end a day before the election. Presidential and parliamentary candidates will submit their names to the commission on 25 August, he said. President ...

Ivory Coast’s Vice-President Daniel Kablan Duncan has resigned. His resignation follows the sudden death of the Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly last week. The secretary-general of the Ivory Coast presidency, Patrick Achi, said that Kablan Duncan, was leaving “for personal reasons.” The vice-president had put in his resignation letter to President Alassane Ouattara in February, Mr Achi noted. “After several ...

Sudan’s ruling body ratified a law banning the widespread practice of female genital mutilation, the justice ministry announced Friday, handing the movement for women’s rights in the African country a long-sought victory. The Sovereign Council passed a set of sweeping amendments to the country’s criminal code late Thursday, including one that criminalized the deep-rooted practice. The draft law had been ...

The coronavirus pandemic is going to get “worse and worse” if certain governments do not take decisive action to curb the spread of the disease, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said we are seeing “dangerous increases in cases” in countries where “proven measures to reduce risk are not implemented or followed”. ...

Egypt’s cabinet has approved amendments to the country’s criminal procedure law that will guarantee anonymity for victims of sexual abuse. The identities of victims can only be revealed to the court and to defendants upon request, according to the draft law. Egyptian victims of sexual crimes often face a lot of stigma. The Arabic hashtag “The Beginning of a Feminist ...

The US has warned West Africa’s Sahel nations that it could withdraw its support if security forces violate human rights. The state department said it was “deeply concerned” by the allegations documented by rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW). HRW said that at least 180 bodies were found in a mass grave in Burkina Faso with evidence suggesting that government forces ...