WORLD

Nigeria and the EU are working on an agreement to facilitate the repatriation of Nigerians living illegally in EU countries, reveals Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, on Sunday in Abuja. The EU for now, he explained, was trying to have a collective agreement with Nigeria covering all the EU countries so that there can just be a one-stop-shop …

The wave of deportations of Nigerians from European countries continues unabated as 50 of them were forcibly repatriated on Thursday from Germany,  Switzerland, Sweden, Luxembourg, Austria, Belgium, Spain and Hungary. The 48 males and two females arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, in a chartered aircraft. According to the News Agency of Nigeria, the deportees were sent back …

The President of the Nigerian Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, has assured his compatriots abroad that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari was working assiduously to solve the myriad problems the country is confronted with. Saraki was speaking when he met representatives of the Nigerian community in Berlin. He assured the gathering that the National Assembly was well alive to its …

This year’s Anne Klein Women’s Award from Germany’s Heinrich Böll Foundation goes to South African Nomarussia Bonase, who fights for Apartheid victims still waiting for compensation. DW journalist Thuso Khumalo has met her. Nomarussia Bonase, aged 50, celebrated winning the Anne Klein Women’s Award by singing and dancing with her family and supporters, both young and old, on the street …

Germany and Tunisia have made a deal on immigration and development aid. Under the agreement reached after talks between Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Beji Essebsi in the Tunisian capital, the North African country will take back its citizens whose asylum applications have been turned down by Germany. Berlin will reward Tunis with generous development aid. “We have agreed with …

Pope Francis has made a surprise announcement saying he wants to make a trip to famine-struck, war-torn South Sudan, but not on his own. He wants the head of the Anglican Church, Archbishop Justin Welby, to come too. Francis made the disclosure at the weekend in impromptu comments during a visit to Rome’s Anglican Church, the first to the parish …

“We have seen that a lack of information or false information is one of the main problems that leads to illegal migration.”

G20 foreign ministers will discuss ways to fight poverty in Africa, strengthen governmental institutions and better utilise the potential of many African countries, German ministry officials said on the eve of a two-day meeting (16-17 February) in Bonn. G20 comprises 19 major industrialised and emerging economies and the European Union. Germany, keen to improve conditions in Africa and halt a growing …

A UN expert group will visit Germany from 20-27 February to investigate the human rights situation of people of African descent in the country. The visit is taking place within the framework of the International Decade of People of African Descent (2015–2024), which highlights the human rights situation of the African Diaspora worldwide and aims to fight racial discrimination against …

Two Muslims suspected of planning terror attacks in Germany have been arrested during widespread raid against radical Islamists. Police in the town of Göttingen, the state of Lower Saxon (Niedersachsen), arrested the two men suspected of plotting a terror attack on Wednesday evening, officials announced on Thursday (9 February). The men arrested, a 27-year-old Algerian and a 23-year-old Nigerian, are …

More than 12,000 Nigerian asylum seekers in Germany face deportation, it was disclosed yesterday (7 February). The Global Head of Programme, Migration and Development at the German Federal Ministry of Economic Co-operation and Development, Dr Ralf Sanftenberg, made the disclosure when he visited the Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa in Abuja. Sanftenberg …

The new Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, has expressed his hopeful optimism for Africa. He spoke of the continent’s promise and vast potential at a press conference on 31 January in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, after attending the 28th African Union Summit. For the record, below is the full text of his remarkable statement: Far too often, the world …

A federal judge has blocked part of President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration, ruling that citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries who have already arrived in the US and those who are in transit and who hold valid visas, cannot be deported from the US. “There is imminent danger that, absent the stay of removal, there will be substantial and …

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday, 27 January suspending refugee arrivals and imposing tough new controls on travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries. The order imposed a 120-day suspension of the entire US Refugee Admissions Program and a 90-day ban on all entry to the United States from countries with “terrorism concerns”. The State Department said the …

There was much excitement in Africa when Barack Obama was elected US president in 2008. But he didn’t live up to many expectations. Daniel Pelz recounts the legacy of the first US president with African roots. Jubilant crowds flooded the streets of Ghana’s capital Accra during Obama’s first visit to Africa as US president. Even members of Ghana’s parliament rose to chants …

French President François Hollande has reaffirmed his commitment to peace in Mali in an address to more than 30 African leaders gathered at the 27th Africa-France Summit in Bamako on Saturday, 14 January.  The annual conference, which took place in the Malian capital this year, discussed cross-border jihad, governance challenges and Africa’s role in the European migrant crisis. Malian President …

Ahmed Hussen, who arrived in Canada as a refugee at the age of 16, is also the first Somali-Canadian to hold a seat in Parliament.

Ilhan Omar, the first Somali-American legislator has officially been sworn into office on Tuesday, 3 January. Ms Omar, who wears the hijab, the head gear for Muslim women, made history by winning in a State House of Representatives race to serve the people of Minnesota last November. She stood on the ticket of the Democratic Farmer Labour (DFL) – affiliated …

The trial has begun in Paris of the son of Equatorial Guinea’s president, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, who is accused of using money plundered from his native country to buy lavish properties, cars and other goods in France. It’s the first case to come to court, of several being investigated by French authorities into allegedly illegal acquisitions by African leaders …

Antonio Guterres replaced Ban Ki-moon as UN Secretary-General on New Year day. In his first address to the international community, Guterres, a former prime minister of Portugal, pledged to make 2017 a year to “put peace first.” The ninth UN chief, 67, said in a message that he would be working to resolve wars and other violent conflicts in countries …