Africa

Somalia drought could lead to 135 deaths a day: UN study

The record drought sweeping the Horn of Africa may lead to 135 deaths a day in Somalia between January and June this year, the health ministry, WHO and UNICEF said in a study released Monday. Earlier this month, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that nearly 100,000 people in the fragile country were facing catastrophic levels of hunger due to the worst drought to hit the region in four decades. Monday’s study used a statistical […]

Kenya police out in force for opposition protests

by Hillary ORINDE Agence France-Presse NAIROBI, Kenya (AFP) — Kenyan riot police were out in force Monday for a day of action called by the opposition to protest the country’s cost of living crisis, despite a ban on the demonstrations. In one part of Nairobi’s biggest slum Kibera, demonstrators set tires alight, while several youths were arrested at one of the venues for the demonstrations in the capital, AFP journalists saw. Opposition leader Raila Odinga, […]

South Africa braces for nationwide protests

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — South Africa braced for protests on Monday after a left-wing party called for a “national shut-down”, sparking fears of a repeat of unrest that turned deadly two years ago. Authorities said there would be a heavy police presence to deal with any possible violence, after the third largest party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) urged South Africans to take to the streets and bring the country to a halt. “The […]

Ten million children in Africa’s central Sahel face ‘extreme jeopardy’: UN

  Ten million children in west Africa’s central Sahel region are now in “extreme jeopardy” and desperately need humanitarian help due to worsening violence, the United Nations warned Friday. The number of children in dire need of aid in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger is twice as many as in 2020, the children’s agency UNICEF said. Meanwhile a further four million children are at risk in neighbouring countries as battles between armed groups and security […]

Libya’s boxers recover from Kadhafi-era knockout

by Aziz El Massassi Agence France Presse Tripoli, Libya (AFP) — Omar Zlitni holds a decades-old, black-and-white photo of himself as a boxer in his prime, posing in shorts and a training vest before Libya’s then-dictator, Moamer Kadhafi, banned his beloved sport. Boxing was “in his blood”, said the 63-year-old Tripoli resident who proudly keeps the image as his phone’s wallpaper. In 1979, he was just 19 when boxing, along with wrestling and other combat […]

Cyclone Freddy death toll in Malawi hits 326

by Jack McBRAMS Agence France Presse Blantyre, Malawi (AFP) — The death toll in Malawi from Cyclone Freddy has risen to 326, the country’s president said Thursday, bringing the total number of victims across southern Africa to more than 400 since February. Rescuers were unearthing more bodies as the chances of finding survivors faded after the cyclone followed a highly unusual course by returning to lash southern Africa’s mainland a second time. “As of yesterday, […]

Cyclone Freddy death toll in Malawi hits 326

by Jack McBRAMS Agence France-Presse BLANTYRE, Malawi (AFP) — The death toll in Malawi from Cyclone Freddy has risen to 326, the country’s president said Thursday, bringing the total number of victims across southern Africa to more than 400 since February. Rescuers were unearthing more bodies as the chances of finding survivors faded after the cyclone followed a highly unusual course by returning to lash southern Africa’s mainland a second time. “As of yesterday, the […]

What makes Cyclone Freddy an exceptional storm

Paris, France | AFP | by Julien MIVIELLE Cyclone Freddy, which has twice smashed into the African coast after traversing the Indian Ocean, may be enshrined in the history books as the longest ever documented, meteorologists say. A factfile: – Deadly track – The storm began to brew in early February in the southeastern Indian Ocean off northern Australia, whose weather service gave it the designation of Freddy on February 6. Freddy then crossed the […]

Rescuers scramble to find survivors in cyclone-hit Malawi

Blantyre, Malawi | AFP | Wednesday 3/15/2023 by Jack McBrams Rescuers scrambled on Wednesday to reach survivors in Malawi’s battered city of Blantyre, after Cyclone Freddy struck southern Africa for a second time, triggering floods and landslides that have killed more than 200 people. Weather conditions were expected to improve as the storm dissipated over land after days of torrential rains, but localised thunderstorms would persist, and flood levels remained high in some areas, hampering […]

Cyclone Freddy returns killing 70 in Malawi, Mozambique

by Jack McBRAMS Cyclone Freddy, packing powerful winds and torrential rain, killed at least 70 people in Malawi and Mozambique on its return to southern Africa’s mainland, authorities said Monday. More than 60 bodies were found during the day in southern Malawi where heavy downpours triggered flooding, according to the Red Cross. “Sixty-six people have died in Malawi, 93 injured and 16 people are missing due to Tropical Cyclone Freddy,” tweeted the humanitarian organisation, which […]

Freddy may break tropical cyclone record: UN

Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | by Robin MILLARD Tropical storm Freddy is on track to break the record as the longest-lasting cyclone of its kind, the United Nations said Friday, as the killer storm was set to hit Mozambique once again. “Freddy is continuing its incredible and dangerous journey,” Clare Nullis, spokeswoman for the UN’s World Meteorological Organization, told reporters in Geneva. Freddy has been a named tropical cyclone for 33 days since developing off […]

First rains hit Mozambique as Cyclone Freddy inches closer, again

  Maputo, Mozambique | AFP | Intense rains and winds started to lash parts of Mozambique on Saturday as Tropical Cyclone Freddy bore down on the country for the second time in as many weeks, authorities said. Freddy, which is on track to become the longest-lasting cyclone on record, slowed its advance towards the southern African nation and was 60 kilometres (40 miles) off the coast on Saturday morning, according to the Mozambique National Meteorology […]