“Today we launch the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM). We are nearly ready to launch the Continental Free Trade Area, and freedom of movement of persons is achievable in 2018,” President Paul Kagame of Rwanda has said. The Rwandan leader made the commitment on Sunday while delivering his acceptance speech as the new chairperson of the African Union at …

South African jazz legend and anti-apartheid activist Hugh Masekela has died, aged 78. Masekela “passed peacefully” in the country’s commercial capital, Johannesburg “after a protracted and courageous battle with prostate cancer,” his family said in a statement on Tuesday. “It is with profound sorrow that the family of Ramapolo Hugh Masekela announce his passing. After a protracted and courageous battle …

Nigerians hit the streets of the British capital on Monday to condemn the incessant killing of innocent Nigerians by suspected Fulani herdsmen in various parts of Nigeria. The protest was convened by Mutual Union of Tivs in the United Kingdom (MUTUK) and was supported by members of the Nigerian community in the United Kingdom. The protesters while chanting, ”Buhari, no …

Liberian President George Opong Weah promised his country men and women yesterday he would not let them down. He spoke at a jam-packed Samuel Doe International stadium in Monrovia shortly after he took his oath of office as the 24th president of his country. It was the first time since 1944 that power was transferred from one president to another …

Killings carried out by people suspected to be Fulani herdsmen are causing widespread insecurity in Africa’s most populous country. The worldwide community of Nigerian citizens in the diaspora has now issued a press release on the burning national issue. “The massacre of scores of human beings by Fulani herdsmen in Benue State on New Year’s Day in cold blood sent shockwaves …

Talks can now begin on ending months of political deadlock after members of the centre-left SPD voted to open formal talks on a “grand coalition” with the Chancellor Angela Merkel-led conservative CDU/CSU bloc. “Today, it’s not just about whether we’re entering coalition negotiations. No. Rather today we finally decide which direction our country and Europe are going. And that’s why …

The second edition of Queen of Nollywood Awards Germany took place recently. The event, which honoured practitioners of the Nigerian home-grown movie industry, was attended by hundreds of fans of the African movie industry, including a sister of former President Barack Obama. The presence of Dr Auma Obama, from Kenya, in the south-western German city of Ludwigshafen on 2 December …

In a bold initiative, a group has started a school in Germany to teach an African language to children of African origin in the Diaspora. Saturday (20 January) witnessed the official opening of the Igbo Language School in Frankfurt. Igbo is the language of the Igbo people, one of Nigeria’s three biggest ethno-national groups. Attended by members of the Nigerian …

A new report has found that only a small fraction of German users get the internet speeds that providers promise. And, according to a study of service providers, the problem is only getting worse. Elizabeth Schumacher reports. A new report from Germany’s Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) has revealed that the country — known the world over for ingenuity and efficiency …

The experience of sub-Saharans in North Africa, most of whom are migrants in transit, has been marked by outright racial discrimination and social rejection. A Moroccan party has now raised the issue in the country’s parliament, proposing a law against racial discrimination. Safaa Kasraoui reports. The Independence Party (Istiqlal) of Morocco proposed on Tuesday a new law to criminalize acts …

The UK has created a “minister for loneliness” position to tackle modern public health problems associated with social isolation. The government of Prime Minister Theresa May said Wednesday it appointed Tracey Crouch after research showed as many as one in ten people felt lonely “always or often” and that hundreds of thousands of elderly people hadn’t spoken to a friend …

As the Kenyan community is still mourning one of their own, Brian Nyawade Owino, an asylum-seeker whose death was announced in Berlin on 5 January, the police found the remains of a Kenyan woman in the western German city of Essen on Wednesday (17 January). The body of the 27-year-old Mary Waithera Kamathi, popularly known as Carrie Jones, was discovered in …

Kidnappers have abducted two Americans and two Canadians in the northern Nigerian state of Kaduna, killing two police officers, a police spokesman said on Wednesday. The North Americans were ambushed by unknown gunmen around Kagarko on their way from the city of Kaduna to the capital Abuja, Reuters quoted Mukhtar Aliyu, a spokesman for the Kaduna state police, as saying. …

The Dutch government has declared the head of the Eritrean embassy’s office in The Hague ‘persona non grata’ and has demanded his immediate departure. The decision followed a motion issued by the Dutch parliament to close the consulate. The decision to expel Tekeste Ghebremedhin Zemuy, Eritrea’s Chargé d’Affaires in the Netherlands, was made after reports of the intimidation and coercion, …

The United Kingdom and Germany have praised the Ethiopian government for releasing political prisoners, charging Addis Ababa to follow through with its promises on political reforms and opening up the democratic space. Their comments came in the wake of the release of over 500 politician prisoners on Wednesday as promised by government earlier this month. Among those freed is Prof …

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is in the last days of her reign as Africa’s first democratically elected female president. She has, however, set a political battle for her days out of office. According to her spokesman Jerolinmek Piah, Sirleaf regarded the Unity Party (UP) decision to expel her as illegal and that she will return to the party to seek redress …

Brian Nyawade Owino, who went missing in Berlin on 29 December 2017, was reported dead on 5 January. Circumstances surrounding his death are still not clear. Following is the Press and Community Communiqué of the Kenyan Community, PEACE and The VOICE Refugee Forum Berlin on the sad event: Brian Nyawade Owino (26), an African asylum seeker from Kenya went missing …

186,644 asylum seekers were registered last year. That’s more than 100,000 down from the 2016 figures – the Germany Interior Ministry says the massive numbers from the height of the crisis have been “overcome.” German Interior Minister Lothar de Maizière announced the figures in Berlin on Tuesday (16 January) showed that the waves of refugees arriving in Germany continue to …

Clashes last week between rival elements of Côte d’Ivoire’s security forces appear to be a destructive extension of a tussle at the highest levels of power. As such, they bode ill as the country gears up for presidential elections in 2020. On 9 January in Bouaké (the country’s second largest city and between 2002 and 2011, a rebel stronghold), soldiers …

Nigeria’s Channels Television and the BBC are joining forces on a new English language current affairs programme due to launch in 2018. The live studio based show will focus on the stories behind the news, with original storytelling and audience interaction via social media and in the studio in Lagos. Made by the BBC and Channels Television in Nigeria, this …