Africa

Reunion Island on highest alert as major storm hits

SAINT-DENIS DE LA REUNION, Jan 15, 2024 (AFP) – Hundreds of thousands of people on France’s Reunion Island were confined to their homes Monday, as authorities issued the highest alert for a potentially devastating storm. Cyclone Belal was expected to barrel directly into the French Indian Ocean island on Monday, as it moved in from the northwest packing “extreme winds”, according to the Meteo-France forecast. “The eye of the storm will directly cross over the […]

S.Africa’s Pistorius released from prison

JOHANNESBURG, Jan 5, 2024 (AFP) – South Africa’s ex-Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius was released from jail on parole Friday and “is now at home”, authorities said, almost 11 years after he shot dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in a crime that gripped the world. Having served more than half his sentence, the 37-year-old double-amputee was quietly whisked out from the Atteridgeville prison on the outskirts of the capital Pretoria, avoiding the hordes of media gathered […]

Attacks kill at least 160 people in central Nigeria

BOKKOS, Nigeria, Dec 25, 2023 (AFP) – Armed groups have killed at least 160 people in central Nigeria in a series of attacks on villages, local government officials said on Monday. The toll marked a sharp rise from the initial figure reported by the army Sunday evening of just 16 dead in a region plagued for several years by religious and ethnic tensions. “As many as 113 persons have been confirmed killed as Saturday hostilities […]

Tens of thousands affected as floods hit Thai south

BANGKOK, Dec 25, 2023 (AFP) – Floods caused by intense rainfall have affected tens of thousands of people in Thailand’s deep south, officials said Monday, with some roads and railway lines forced to close. At least a dozen schools in the provinces of Yala and Narathiwat have been forced to close, while footage from the region showed homes and shops inundated with murky brown waters and residents taking refuge on upper floors. The heavy rains […]

Second Cape Town wildfire forces evacuations

CAPE TOWN, Dec 22, 2023 (AFP) – South African firefighters on Friday battled two major wildfires on mountains near Cape Town that have forced the evacuation of scores of families, authorities said. Authorities closed access to the Cape of Good Hope, one of the country’s most visited tourist attractions, because of the fires. Fierce summer winds have fanned flames toward resorts around Cape Town as it braces to receive tens of thousands of visitors for […]

16 people killed in an attack in Nigeria: army

JOS, Nigeria, Dec 24, 2023 (AFP) – Sixteen people have been killed in an attack in northcentral Nigeria, where clashes between herders and farmers are common, the army said Sunday. The attack occurred around midnight Saturday in the village of Mushu in the Plateau State, Captain Oya James told AFP. “We were sleeping when suddenly loud shots rang out,” said Markus Amorudu, a resident of the village. “We were scared because we weren’t expecting an […]

UN Security Council voices ‘alarm’ at spreading violence in Sudan

WASHINGTON, Dec 23, 2023 (AFP) – The UN Security Council expressed “alarm” at growing violence in war-torn Sudan on Friday, a day after it reported that seven million people have been displaced by the conflict. In a joint statement, the Council “strongly condemned” attacks on civilians and the spread of the conflict “into areas hosting large populations of internally displaced persons, refugees, and asylum seekers.” “The members of the Security Council expressed alarm at the […]

Colombian ex-soldier pleads guilty in Haiti president assassination plot

MIAMI, Dec 22, 2023 (AFP) – A former Colombian soldier pleaded guilty Friday in a US federal court to conspiracy to assassinate Haitian President Jovenel Moise, who was shot dead in 2021 in Port-au-Prince. Mario Antonio Palacios, 45, pleaded guilty in a Miami federal court after entering into a cooperation agreement with prosecutors. Until agreeing to a plea deal, he had for months denied having had any role in the assassination of the former president. […]

Dozens injured in Seychelles blast at explosives depot

MAHE ISLAND, Seychelles, Dec 7, 2023 (AFP) – A huge blast at an explosives depot in Seychelles on Thursday injured 66 people and brought down buildings, prompting the country’s “shocked” president to declare a state of emergency. The archipelago — famous for its idyllic white beaches and high-end tourism — is also grappling with flooding and landslides due to heavy rainfall which have claimed two lives, President Wavel Ramkalawan said, ordering citizens to stay at […]

‘Where is our future’: Uganda declares war on used clothing

By Grace MATSIKO KAMPALA, Dec 4, 2023 (AFP) – For nearly three decades, the chaotic, overcrowded Owino secondhand market in Uganda’s capital has been the cornerstone of Hadija Nakimuli’s life, helping the widowed shopkeeper build a house and raise 12 children. But a potential government ban on the sale of used clothing threatens to sever this crucial lifeline for Nakimuli and tens of thousands of vendors like her. “Where is our future if they stop […]

Anthrax outbreak in Uganda kills 17 in November

KAMPALA, Nov 30, 2023 (AFP) – At least 17 people have died in an anthrax outbreak in southern Uganda this month, a local official told AFP Thursday, saying the situation was “under control”. Anthrax is spread through a bacterium that is encased in a tough, rod-shaped shell. The spores exist naturally in the soil and commonly infect livestock which ingest or inhale them while grazing. Humans can become infected from contact through breathing in the […]

Ugandan woman, 70, gives birth to twins: doctor

KAMPALA, Nov 30, 2023 (AFP) – A Ugandan woman aged 70 has given birth to twins, her doctor said Thursday, in what the mother hailed as a miracle. Safina Namukwaya described her joy at the arrival of the twins who were born on Wednesday at a medical facility in the capital Kampala, where she had received fertility treatment. “This is extraordinary achievement, delivering twins to Africa’s oldest mother at 70 years,” Doctor Edward Tamale Sali, […]