Africa

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday pushed for an immediate ceasefire and unrestricted aid access in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, where he said millions of people needed help and women had suffered “unspeakable violence.” “It is time for all parties to recognize that there is no military solution, and it is …

UN health agency says West Africa faces complex challenge of multiple outbreaks that could strain healthcare systems. The World Health Organization has warned that on top of the COVID-19 pandemic, West Africa is facing new outbreaks of the viral haemorrhagic fevers Marburg and Ebola, risking huge strains on ill-equipped health …

Police say the unclaimed attack was carried out on a convoy transporting workers to Shell oil and gas project, killing seven people. Seven people have been killed in an attack on a convoy transporting workers to a Shell oil and gas project in Nigeria’s southeast, police say. No group claimed …

Gunmen killed a police officer and six employees of Nigerian oil and gas services company Lee Engineering during an attack on a project site in the southeastern state of Imo, police said on Tuesday. Attacks on oil and gas facilities have long been a problem in Nigeria, where the multi-billion …

Opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema has defeated incumbent Edgar Lungu in Zambia’s presidential election, the electoral commission said on Monday when releasing the final results from 156 constituencies, barring one. In the final tally, Hichilema secured 2,810,777 votes while Lungu was in second place with 1,814,201 votes, out of 7 million …

Jailed former South African president Jacob Zuma has undergone unspecified surgery and remains in hospital with more operations planned, prison authorities said on Sunday. Zuma, serving a 15-month sentence in Estcourt prison for contempt of court, was sent to a hospital outside for observation on Aug. 6, days before the …

Attackers killed 22 commuters on a road near the capital of Nigeria’s Plateau state, a morgue attendant told Reuters, in the latest outbreak of violence across Africa’s most populous nation in which scores of civilians have been killed this year. Armed attackers have increasingly targeted Nigeria’s roads and unrest has …

Zambian opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema took an early lead in the country’s presidential election over long-time rival and incumbent Edgar Lungu, according to first results issued by the electoral commission on Saturday. Lungu, 64 and in power since 2015, faces a potentially tight contest against Hichilema – known as “HH” …

France has suspended a deal on military cooperation with Ethiopia, two sources close to the issue said on Friday, as concern intensifies over the conflict in the country’s north. The deal agreed between Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and President Emmanuel Macron in March 2019 was suspended at the beginning of …

Prosecutors in Libya have issued an arrest warrant for Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, over suspected ties to Russian mercenaries. A BBC World Service investigation has revealed links between the shadowy Wagner group’s activities in Libya and war crimes committed against Libyan citizens. …

Tunisia has taken 14 officials into custody on suspicion of corruption in the phosphate industry, Mohsen Dali, a judiciary spokesman, said on Thursday. The suspects included a former junior minister, a mines director, and procurement director at the Industry Ministry, and six managers, Dali said.

Sudan’s foreign minister says the country will hand over former President Omar al-Bashir and other officials wanted over ‘genocide’ charges and war crimes in the Darfur region to the International Criminal Court (ICC). According to reports, the “cabinet decided to hand over wanted officials to the ICC,” state media quoted …

Zambians were voting for a new leader on Thursday, with long queues pointing to a high turnout in an election showdown between President Edgar Lungu and main opposition rival Hakainde Hichilema that looks too tight to call. The two rivals, who voted at different stations hours apart, were both confident …

The death toll in fires ravaging mountain forests and villages in Algeria’s Berber region rose to 65 people on Wednesday, including 28 soldiers, the country’s civil protection authority said, up from 42 people and 25 soldiers on Tuesday. President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said his North African nation would enter a three-day …

Nigeria will soon lift its ban on Twitter after resolving some of its differences with the social media platform, Information Minister Lai Mohammed said on Wednesday, signaling the end of a policy widely condemned as an affront to freedom of expression. The Nigerian government suspended Twitter on June 4 after …

Forces from Ethiopia’s rebellious Tigray region said on Wednesday they were in talks to forge a military alliance with insurgents from Ethiopia’s most populous region, Oromiya, heaping pressure on the central government in Addis Ababa. The move could signal an escalation in the country’s nine-month old war and comes a …

Ethiopia’s government on Tuesday urged citizens to join the fight against resurgent Tigrayan forces now pushing beyond their own region in a nine-month-old war that has sparked a major refugee crisis. The call to arms came in a statement from the office of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed: “Now is the …

Firefighters and helicopters are trying to contain several blazes threatening residents in Tizi Ouzou province. At least seven people have been killed in Algeria as forest fires spread in the North African country, the civil defense authority said on Tuesday. Two people were seriously injured, it added. State radio reported …

Health officials in Guinea have confirmed West Africa’s first case of Marburg, a highly infectious disease that’s in the same family as the virus that causes Ebola. The World Health Organisation (WHO) said the virus needed to be “stopped in its tracks”. Marburg virus disease is transmitted to people from …

A cholera outbreak in southern Niger has killed 12 people and infected 201 others across three regions, with heavy rains helping to further spread the disease, the country’s health minister said on Monday. Niger’s southern neighbor Nigeria is also dealing with a cholera outbreak, which has killed at least 653 …