Africa

The incident occurred as the plane was landing at Kaduna airport ‘due to inclement weather, the army says. Nigeria’s top-ranking army commander Lieutenant General Ibrahim Attahiru and other military officers have been killed when their plane crashed in the country’s north, according to officials. The incident on Friday occurred “due …

The head of France’s armed forces has slammed a UN report into an airstrike in central Mali which killed 19 civilians, saying it was biased and delegitimized the operations of the French-led Barkhane force there. “Very clearly this (report) comprises an attack on the French army, the Barkhane operation (and) …

Crackdown intensifies on pro-democracy Hirak movement by authorities. Several hundred protesters were arrested in Algeria as authorities ramp up efforts to quell a years-long protest movement that has demanded root-and-branch political reform. Said Salhi, head of the Algerian League for Human Rights, said about 800 people were detained in Algiers …

Ethiopia’s twice-delayed national and regional elections will now take place on June 21, but security and logistical problems will delay voting still further in some areas, organisers said on Thursday. The announcement that officials had been unable to hold voter registration in some hotspots thrusts a spotlight on the frequent …

Nigerian Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has been seriously wounded after trying to kill himself to avoid capture during clashes with rival ISIS-allied militants in the north of the country, two intelligence sources said on Thursday. Shekau’s Boko Haram faction and fighters from the Islamic State West Africa Province had …

Health authorities in Malawi have incinerated 19,610 expired doses of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, saying it will reassure the public that any vaccines they do get are safe. It is the first African country to publicly do this. The World Health Organization initially urged countries not to destroy expired doses …

At least 57 migrants drowned in a shipwreck off Tunis as they tried to cross the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy and 33 were rescued, humanitarian organization Tunisian Red Crescent said on Tuesday. In recent weeks, drowning incidents have occurred off the Tunisian coast, with an increase in the frequency …

More than 80 migrants swam to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from neighboring Morocco on Monday, Spanish police said. The migrants, including some minors, set off in the early hours of Monday from beaches a few kilometers south of Ceuta and were detained when they entered the Spanish territory, a …

Hope and excitement gripped the Munsieville care home in the South African mining city of Krugersdorp on Monday, when people over the age of 60 were called to receive the COVID-19 vaccine for the first time. “It’s going to change our country for the better,” Caroline Nicholls, 64, a judge, …

Tunisian security forces killed five suspected militants in the mountains near the border with Algeria on Monday, a Tunisian security official says. The operation, carried out by joint police and army forces in the Chaanabi mountains, is still continuing, he added. Six years ago an Islamic State terrorist group shot …

Uganda said on Monday it had agreed with neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to share intelligence and coordinate a new push by Kinshasa to combat Islamist rebels blamed for worsening violence in Congo’s east. The move came a week after Congolese officials said the two countries would set up …

Trinidad and Tobago will impose a state of emergency from midnight to contain an increase of COVID-19 cases and related deaths, Prime Minister Keith Rowley said on Saturday. Rowley also imposed a curfew from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. local time, with some exceptions to essential services including the energy …

The ceremony comes following the bloodiest pre-election crackdown in years and widespread allegations of irregularities. Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni has been sworn in for his sixth term as president, as police surrounded the home of Bobi Wine, his main opposition rival who decried the inauguration as a “sham”. Museveni, who won …

No reason given behind the move that comes just days after the neighbours normalised their diplomatic ties. Kenya has suspended flights to Somalia just days after its neighbour said diplomatic ties between the two countries had been normalised following months of tension. On Tuesday, the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) …

A female peacekeeper from Malawi was killed in an attack by an Islamist militia in eastern Congo’s North Kivu province on Monday morning, the U.N. and the Malawian government said. A local civil rights group said separately that fighters with the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an Islamist armed group with …

Chad’s military claimed victory on Sunday in its weeks-long battle with northern rebels that led to the death of President Idriss Deby on the battlefield. The rebel group Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT) did not respond to a request for comment. The transitional military authorities have previously …

The artisanal mine in the Siguiri region bordering Mali collapsed on Saturday killing the miners instantly, according to an area councilor. At least 15 people have been killed in a landslide at a gold mine in Guinea’s northeastern region of Siguiri, according to officials, as rescuers on Sunday continued to …

Military authorities had banned the protest called by a coalition of opposition political parties and civil society organizations. Police in Chad’s capital, N’Djamena, have fired tear gas to disperse crowds protesting against a military takeover that followed the death of longtime President Idriss Deby on the battlefield last month. The …

Armed groups displace some 17,500 people in Burkina Faso in recent days, UNHCR says, in an attempt to cause ‘mayhem’. More than 17,500 people in Burkina Faso have been forcefully displaced from their homes in the past 10 days due to a series of attacks by unidentified armed groups that …

Somalia said on Thursday it was restoring diplomatic relations with neighbouring Kenya almost six months after severing ties, accusing Nairobi of meddling in politics. Relations between the countries have also been tense over the ownership of potential oil and gas deposits, some of which lie off the coast of Jubbaland, …