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“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 …

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 …

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 …

A Nigerian-British male fashion model, Harry Uzoka, has been stabbed to death near his home in what is believed to be a robbery which went wrong. Uzoka, who was on the books of Premier Model Management, died from a single stab wound in the tragic incident on Friday (12 January). Neighbours on Old Oak Road, East Acton, reported a shout …

US President Donald Trump has denied being “racist” in the wake of wide condemnation triggered by his alleged reference to Haiti and African nations as “shitholes”.   Trump reportedly used the term last week during a bipartisan Oval Office meeting on immigration reform. “I’m not a racist. I am the least racist person you have ever interviewed, that I can tell …

German doctors shut their doors to state insurance patients at the end of each quarter to save money, a new study has shown. Germany’s profit-driven health care system is increasingly attracting criticism. State health insurance patients are struggling to see their doctors towards the end of every quarter, while privately insured patients get easy access, according to a study released …

The Championship of African Nations (CHAN) tournament kicks off on Saturday January 13 in Morocco. The CHAN is a version of the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) but one that is reserved for players who ply their trade in Africa. The biennial competition is scheduled to take place between January 13 to February 4, 2018 across four Moroccan cities of Casablanca, …