News

There is currently a humanitarian crisis in Libya where between 800,000 and 1 million migrants are trapped. Most of them are waiting to embark on the perilous journey across the Mediterranean to Europe. With new measures adopted by the Libyan government and other similar developments, the chances of the overwhelming majority of the migrants reaching Europe are almost foreclosed. Most …

Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, has called for more time for Nigerians in Diaspora to obtain their Bank Verification Number (BVN). Dabiri-Erewa also urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) to put modalities and logistics in place to make it easier for Nigerians …

Requests for asylum in Switzerland dropped by a third in September, bringing the total for the first nine months of 2017 to just under 14,000, the lowest since 2010, government data showed. A drop since mid-July in the number of would-be refugees trying to reach Europe via the Mediterranean played a role, the State Secretariat for Migration has said, adding …

Real Madrid’s Portugal striker Cristiano Ronaldo was crowned the best soccer player in the world for the second year running at FIFA’s The Best awards gala on Monday. The  four-time Ballon d‘Or winner won a La Liga and Champions League double with the Madrid club this year. He stroke twice against Juventus in the European Cup final to help Real …

While praising Germany’s openness toward refugees, the UN refugee agency UNHCR has called on newly elected German lawmakers to further improve the situation and prospects for refugees, reports Ashutosh Pandey. The German office of the UN refugee agency UNHCR has urged the newly elected members of the Bundestag, which will hold its first session on Tuesday, to provide the right …

Togo’s President Faure Gnassingbé should resign immediately and the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) should persuade him to step down, Gambia’s Foreign Minister Ousainou Darboe has said. Darboe’s comments, during an interview with the news agency Reuters, are an early sign that opinion is shifting against Gnassingbé who took power in 2005 following …

Presidential candidate in Liberia and football legend, George Weah, on Sunday, 22 October attended a Church service in Lagos, Nigeria, to seek divine intervention for his nation. The famous Liberian was part of a multi-cultural congregation at the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) led by Prophet Temitope B. Joshua. During his sermon which was broadcast live on popular Christian …

The repeat of the presidential election ordered by Kenya’s Supreme Court will take place this week on Thursday. The country is understandably in suspense as the main opposition candidate, Raila Odinga, has withdrawn from the race while two key officials of the election commission have expressed doubts about the prospects for a credible poll. On Sunday, Kenyans both at home …

This is the moving story of Mohamed, a Cameroonian, about his 3-year journey through North Africa in his attempt to reach Europe. It’s a story of ordeal and suffering and encounters with death, which made the young man to finally decide to return home. “I left Cameroon back in 2013 to find work elsewhere. I spent a year and a …

The World Health Organization has cancelled the appointment of Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe as a goodwill ambassador after global condemnation. Director General of WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a statement issued Sunday said , after carefully listenening to concerns expressed by many and consultation with the Government of Zimbabwe, it is in the best interest of the global health …

Bank account owners who are yet to have a Bank Verification Number (BVN) run the risk of forfeiting their money to the federal government within the next two weeks unless they can justify their ownership of such accounts. A Federal High Court in Abuja has granted a temporary forfeiture order on such accounts. It also restrained commercial banks from operating …

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) says he is “rethinking” his decision to name Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe a goodwill ambassador after a global outcry. The 93-year-old leader was given the position, which is bestowed on personalities who highlight “important health issues,” at a WHO conference on non-communicable diseases in Montevideo, Uruguay, last week. WHO Director-General Dr Tedros …

Pro-independence government chief of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, says the region won’t accept Madrid’s moves to impose direct rule. “The institutions and the people of Catalonia cannot accept this attack,” he said in an official statement following Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s announcement that he plans to curb the powers of the Catalonia’s parliament, sack its government and call an election …

The youth empowerment initiative to promote educational achievement in the African community in Germany holds its annual award ceremony at the premises of the IHK in Hamburg on Saturday, 21 October 2017. The annual African Youth Education (AYE) Awards aim to motivate young people of African origin in Germany to seek excellence in school. The scheme was initiated in 2011 …

Political violence in Togo claimed more victims this week. On Wednesday at least four people were shot dead in clashes between security forces and protesters in the West African country’s two biggest cities. On Tuesday, two soldiers and a teenager died. The deaths came amid unrest following the arrest of an imam with close ties to the opposition, and against a …

Sierra Leoneans will go to the polls in 2018 to elect a new president. Incumbent Ernest Bai Koroma is not eligible to stand after serving two consecutive terms. Koroma came to power in 2007 under the aegis of the All People’s Congress (APC), he won a second term in November 2012. The two main candidates aiming for Bai Koroma’s seat …

Liberia’s National Elections Commission (NEC) on Thursday released the full results of the 10 October general election. The body further confirmed a run-off vote between the two top candidates for the presidency, which it has set for 7 November. Ex-football star George Weah of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) will face current vice-president, Joseph Boakai of the ruling Unity …

Thousands of Somalis led by President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed have staged a demonstration in Mogadishu following Saturday’s terror attack. Thousands of protesters flooded the streets of Mogadishu on Wednesday in defiance of Saturday’s blasts that claimed more than 300 lives. Somalia’s deadliest attacks to date reportedly came in retaliation for a joint raid by the country’s government and the US …

A senior official of Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has resigned from her job a week before a repeat presidential election, saying the election body was under siege and could not hold a credible election. “The commission in its current state can surely not guarantee a credible election on 26 October 2017,” Roselyn Akombe, an IEBC commissioner, said …

Since October 2016, protests and strikes related to sectoral demands have escalated into a crisis over the economic and political marginalisation of Cameroon’s Anglophone minority. The crisis reached a new low at the weekend of 30 September-1 October when at least 17 people were shot dead by security forces and 50 wounded, according to Amnesty International. Mbom Sixtus, freelance journalist …