News

Editors of the news agency IRIN* sketch out the gloomy-looking horizon in five African countries in the new year. Congo unravels You know the situation is bad when people start fleeing their homes, and it doesn’t get much worse than the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Here, violence in its eastern provinces has triggered the world’s worst displacement crisis – …

The Initiative in Memory of Oury Jalloh (Initiative zum Gedenken an Oury Jalloh) and its supporters will demonstrate for the thirteenth time in Dessau on Sunday to commemorate the death of Oury Jalloh, who died in police custody in the eastern German town on 7 January 2005. The memorial event, which takes place on Sunday, 7 January 2018, will also …

President Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea said a war was being organised against his regime, days after a government official announced the discovery of a “destabilisation attempt”. A “war” is being prepared “because they say I have spent a lot of time in power,” the president said on Saturday, without saying who he was referring to. Neighbouring Cameroon had …

There have been angry protests in Democratic Republic of Congo, calling for President Joseph Kabila’s resignation. Kabila has been in power since 2001. His second term in office officially ended in December 2016, but he is still there – refusing to leave. The UN Secretary-General has now waded into the crisis following deadly clashes in the capital, Kinshasa. Congolese protested …

The Federal Government of Nigeria has appointed local airlines to repatriate Nigerians stranded in Libya. Following the global outrage that greeted the CNN footage showing African migrants being auctioned as slaves in Libya last November, President Muhammadu Buhari vowed to bring back Nigerians still in the North African country. He thereafter constituted a 17-man fact-finding committee headed by Minister of …

In his first press conference since his election as president, George Weah has promised that he would not tolerate corruption in his government while his focus would be the transformation of the lives of the masses. Addressing journalists, his partisans and supporters at his first victory press conference held at the headquarters of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) on …

Authorities in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea say they foiled an overnight attempt to overthrow the government of Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasago – Africa’s longest serving leader. The attempt as reported by the French news portal Jeune Afrique took place overnight from Wednesday December 27 to Thursday December 28. Even though details of the incident are sketchy, there is said to be …

Early on the morning of Boxing Day (26 December), rescue workers spotted more than 130 migrants stranded in the Mediterranean, some 40 kilometres off the coast of Libya. They were sitting in three small dinghies, ill-equipped for the windy winter crossing, when they were finally picked up by Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms. Despite the efforts of African and European …

The Head of UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), Farid Zarif, has commended the outgoing President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, for the prevailing peace in the former war-torn country. Zarif said the legacy of Sirleaf was also connected to the legacy of UNMIL, which would wind down in March 2018 after 15 years of operations in the country. He said …

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on Friday said a total of 6,672 Nigerians voluntarily returned from Libya from 6 January to 28 December. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Director General of NEMA, Alhaji Mustapha Maihajja, made this known while receiving a fresh batch of 257 Nigerians who arrived Lagos from Libya. Maihajja lauded the International …

David S. Levin, writing from New York, looks at how the Trump administration’s policies have been detrimental to Africa one year into his presidency. In January, I wrote an article about what I thought Donald Trump’s policies toward Africa might look like once he took office. I based my theories, in part, on the frequency that he mentioned Africa – …

Italy is to deploy hundreds of soldiers to a desert military base in Niger to confront people-traffickers who are blamed for taking Africans across the Sahara and the Mediterranean. Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni has said his country would send a “non-combat” military mission to Niger to help stop people smugglers from taking people to the EU. Special forces will …

As part of the awareness raising campaign for the International Decade for People of African Descent, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights hosted a Regional Meeting for Europe, Central Asia and North America in Geneva, Switzerland, on 23-24 November 2017. [The International Decade for People of African Descent, 2015–2024, was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly …

Superstition, defined as “irrational belief usually founded on ignorance or fear and characterized by obsessive reverence for omens, charms, etc”, is a phenomenon that is as old as humanity and it occurs in all cultures. Normal natural phenomena such as thunders and heavy rains used to be interpreted as the result of the actions of gods. With the increasing influence …

The parliament of the East African country has scrapped presidential age limit, paving the way for Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, to rule until 2037 The Ugandan parliament on Wednesday evening (20 December) voted to scrap presidential age limit which was formerly pegged at 75 years. The controversial age limit bill was passed after going through …

In his maiden speech as president of the African National Congress (ANC), Cyril Ramaphosa, appealed for unity in the South African ruling party, pledging to tackle corruption and support resolutions made to empower poor South Africans, including the expropriation of land without compensation. As the ANC elective conference came to a close, many including Ramaphosa breathed a sigh of relief …

South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) has elected Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa as its new leader. The former trade unionist and top businessman will replace his embattled boss; President Jacob Zuma; and would lead the ANC into elections slated for 2019. Ramaphosa polled 2440 votes as against 2261 received by his main rival, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, in the tightly fought …

West African leaders have called on Togolese political actors to hold an “inclusive dialogue” to resolve the political crisis in the country. The Summit of Heads of State of the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) made the call in Abuja, Nigeria, on Saturday. The conference expressed its concerns over persistent political tensions and condemned the forms of violence and …

Latest figures show an overall fall in the number of new asylum requests in the EU, compared to 2015 and 2016. Asylum is a form of international protection given by a state on its territory. It is granted to a person who is unable to seek protection in his/her country of citizenship and/or residence, in particular for fear of being …

In a case that shows that the hand of justice is long, a Dutch court has convicted an aide of former Ethiopian dictator of war crimes committed in the 1970s and sentenced him to life in jail. Eshetu Alemu, who served Ethiopia’s ruthless leader Mengesitu Haile Mariam in the late 1970s, has been sentenced to life in jail by Dutch …