World News

If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, that to lasting peace with neighbours is layered with bitumen and straddled by high-voltage electricity lines. That appears to be the lesson from the Uganda government’s strategic shift in its regional policy towards the Democratic Republic of Congo, its large, rich, but a troubled westerly neighbour. After two-and-a-half decades of ...

If the company allows, it should be possible for Africans both on the continent and in the diaspora to have a nuanced conversation about the life and legacy of the former Libyan leader, Col. Muammar al-Gaddafi. The caveat here is important; Gaddafi divides opinion nine whole years after a section of irate Libyans killed him, ironically in Sirte, on the ...

Tanzania’s National Electoral Commission (NEC) has barred the main opposition presidential candidate, Tundu Lissu, from campaigning for a week. It comes at a critical time with the elections at the end of the month. The NEC said its ethics committee had taken the decision following complaints from the ruling CCM party and the opposition NRA party. The parties accused Mr ...

Zimbabwean street vendor Memory Chauke did not get very far when she hopped over a fence into neighbouring South Africa on the first day its borders reopened after a six-month closure due to the coronavirus pandemic. South African patrol guards had anticipated that Zimbabweans would resume illegal crossings into the country to buy goods as soon as travel restrictions were ...

The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has said Nigerians are disappointed in the present administration because they are misplacing the functions of government at different levels. While he said some expected “magic results”, Fashola argued that many Nigerians don’t know the differences between the projects expected to be executed by the federal, states, and local governments. He said ...

A Commonwealth report has revealed violence against women and girls costs Lesotho more than $113 million (about 1.9 billion Lesotho loti) a year. The report estimates the total cost, including loss of income and expenses associated with medical, legal and police support, equates to around 5.5 per cent of Lesotho’s gross domestic product (GDP). The cost of $113 million means ...

For years, Africa has been pushing for a reform of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to have at least two permanent representatives. Similar calls have been made by Germany, Europe’s largest economy and India, the world’s largest democracy, to have a permanent seat on the UNSC. The council is responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security and ...

The ECOWAS Court of Justice in Abuja on Friday dismissed a suit challenging the legality of August 18, 2020, sanctions imposed on Mali following the military coup against President Ibrahim Keita. A three-man panel of the court led by Justice Dupe Atoki dismissed the suit, shortly after hearing interlocutory applications filed by two Malian associations seeking a suspension of the ...

The World Health Organisation has said that it has identified some factors that potentially played a role in slowing down the Coronavirus infection rate in Africa. There have been over 1.4 million confirmed COVID19 cases on the African continent – with more than 1.1 million recoveries & 34,000 deaths cumulatively. In a publication by the WHO’s Africa region, it said ...

The Federal Government through the National Social Safety Nets Coordinating Office is developing a Rapid Response Register to scale up the enrollment of poor and vulnerable citizens in urban centres. Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, disclosed this in her remarks at the Open Government Partnership 2020 Virtual Leaders Summit Roundtable. The theme of the roundtable was ...