Africa

11 soldiers killed in attack in Nigeria's Benue state

One army officer and 10 soldiers were killed in Nigeria’s Benue state in what a spokesman said was an unprovoked attack on Thursday.
Stranded Suez Canal ship re-floated, marine services firm says

The stranded container ship blocking the Suez Canal for almost a week was re-floated on Monday and is currently being secured, Inchcape Shipping Services said, raising hopes the busy waterway will soon be reopened.
Over 180 people trapped in Mozambique hotel after insurgent attack

More than 180 people including expatriate workers are trapped inside a hotel in a northern Mozambique town under siege by insurgents for three days, workers and security sources said Friday.
‘Don't shoot,’ Ethiopian father begged Eritrean soldiers, daughter says

Fourteen-year-old Mibrak Esayus recalls the day last November when she says Eritrean soldiers burst into her home in Ethiopia’s Tigray region and killed her mother and father.
UN calls for stop to ‘horrific’ sexual violence in Ethiopia’s Tigray

A dozen top United Nations officials called for a stop to indiscriminate and targeted attacks against civilians in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, particularly calling out reports of rape and “other horrific forms of sexual violence.”
First female president urges Tanzanians to unite after death of Magufuli

Tanzania’s new President Samia Suluhu Hassan said on Friday the country should unite and avoid pointing fingers after the death of John Magufuli, her Covid-19 sceptic predecessor, urging the east African country to look forward with hope and confidence.
Tanzania’s President John Magufuli dead at 61

Tanzania’s President John Magufuli, one of Africa’s most prominent coronavirus sceptics, has died aged 61.
South Africa’s Zulu King Zwelithini dies at 72, hailed as ‘visionary monarch’

Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini, who saw himself as the custodian of his people’s culture and was praised by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa as a “visionary monarch”, died aged 72.
Gunmen in Nigeria's northwestern Kaduna state kidnap students: police

Gunmen in Nigeria’s northwestern Kaduna state kidnapped a number of students from a college late on Thursday, a police spokesman and a state government official said today.
Children lose parents as thousands flee after Equatorial Guinea blast

Callers seeking the parents of lost children have been regularly dialling in to radio and television programmes since a series of explosions levelled much of Equatorial Guinea’s largest city and sent thousands fleeing for the countryside.
War crimes court orders record $30 million compensation for Congo victims

Child soldiers and other victims of convicted Congolese militia leader Bosco Ntaganda should get a total of $30 million compensation, International Criminal Court judges ruled on Monday, in their highest ever reparation order.
Explosions kill at least 20 in Equatorial Guinea city of Bata

A series of large explosions at a military base rocked the city of Bata in Equatorial Guinea, killing at least 20 people and injuring hundreds, local television station TVGE said.
10 killed in South Sudan plane crash

At least ten people, including the two pilots, died when a plane crashed at an airstrip in South Sudan's Jonglei state, the region's governor and the airline said.
Nigerian schoolboys freed as forces search for 300 abducted girls

Gunmen in Nigeria released 27 teenage boys who were kidnapped from their school in the northern state of Niger, while security forces continued to search for more than 300 schoolgirls abducted in a nearby state.
Italian ambassador killed in eastern DR Congo while in UN convoy: Foreign Ministry

The Italian ambassador to DR Congo and an Italian carabineri police officer were killed Monday while traveling in Congo in a UN convoy, the Foreign Ministry said.
Africa reaches 100,000 known Covid-19 deaths as danger grows

Africa has surpassed 100,000 confirmed deaths from Covid-19 as the continent praised for its early response to the pandemic now struggles with a dangerous resurgence and medical oxygen often runs desperately short.
Gunmen kidnap ‘hundreds’ of schoolboys in Nigeria: security, official sources

Gunmen believed to belong to a criminal gang have kidnapped hundreds of schoolboys from their hostels along with some of teachers in central Nigeria, an official and a security source told AFP Wednesday.
WHO alerts 6 African countries after Ebola outbreaks

The World Health Organization has alerted six countries to watch out for potential Ebola cases after fresh outbreaks in Guinea and Democratic Republic of Congo, a spokeswoman said today.
Ten years on, Libyan revolutionaries live with wounds and unfulfilled dreams

As revolution swept their region in 2011, three young Libyans joined mass protests against Muammar Gaddafi’s four-decade rule. They now live divided by Libya’s frontlines, their futures irrevocably shaped by the uprising.
Suspected Islamists kill 16 in eastern Congo attack

Suspected Islamists killed three soldiers and 13 civilians and burnt down a church in a raid on a village in Democratic Republic of Congo’s northeastern Ituri province, the army and a rights group said on Monday.
Guinea declares new Ebola outbreak

Guinea has declared a new Ebola outbreak, as tests came back positive for the virus after at least three people died and four fell ill in the southeast - the first resurgence of the disease there since the world’s worst outbreak in 2013-2016.
Bangladeshi peacekeepers rescue 32 Chinese workers in Central African Republic

Bangladeshi members of United Nations Peacekeeping Mission have rescued a Chinese team from armed rebels’ attack in Central African Republic’s Gaga region.
Stop hoarding Covid-19 vaccines, South Africa's Ramaphosa tells rich nations

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday urged wealthy countries not to hoard surplus Covid-19 vaccine supplies, adding his voice to calls for global production to be shared more equally.
Thirteen dead, thousands homeless in southern Africa after storm Eloise

The death toll from storm Eloise rose to at least 13 on Monday after heavy winds, rain and flooding destroyed buildings, drowned crops and displaced thousands in parts of southern Africa.
At least 48 dead in Sudan’s Darfur clashes

At least 48 people died and 97 people were injured in a militia attack on the West Darfur city of El Geneina on Saturday, Sudan's state news agency SUNA said, citing a local doctors union.
More than 300 Nigerian abducted schoolboys freed: government official

More than 300 schoolboys abducted last week by armed men in northwest Nigeria have been released, a government official said Thursday.
Death toll in migrant ship accident off Tunisia rises to 17

Tunisia recovered more bodies on Tuesday from a ship that sank off the Tunisian coast on Sunday while carrying African migrants, bringing the death toll to 17, a judicial official told Reuters.
Around 50 feared dead in DR Congo mine collapse

About 50 people are feared dead after a gold mine collapsed in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo following torrential rain, local authorities said Saturday.
‘Hotel Rwanda’ hero arrested on terror charges

Paul Rusesabagina, portrayed in the film “Hotel Rwanda” as a hero who saved the lives of more than 1,200 people from the country’s 1994 genocide, has been arrested by the Rwandan government on terror charges, the country's police announces.
Africa declared free of wild polio

The independent Africa Regional Certification Commission (ARCC) for Polio Eradication has declared the region free of endemic wild polio, four years after the last case was recorded in Nigeria.