Scheicho Scheifa is haunted by the fear of going blind. A disease called trachoma has turned his eyelids inwards, causing his eyelashes to scar his corneas so badly that one has already turned opaque.The 35-year-old farmer and baker, who blinks frequently and suffers in sunshine, said the pain is so fierce he has now “stopped working …
Congolese helicopter gunships swooped low over the plains to fire volleys of rockets and troops trucked towards the front line to halt Rwanda-backed fighters advancing on DR Congo’s eastern provincial capital after capturing a string of towns.The Mi-24s — rarely used because of the M23 and Rwanda anti-aircraft defences — fly low over the plain, …
The Sudanese army and rival paramilitaries traded blame on Thursday over targeting a major oil refinery north of the capital Khartoum, where clashes between the warring sides have intensified.Eyewitnesses reported seeing thick plumes of smoke covering the area around Al-Jaili refinery about 70 kilometres (40 miles) from Khartoum.The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had claimed …
Earlier this month, soldiers swooped by helicopter into a vast mining complex in western Mali and made away with three tonnes of gold — all done on the orders of the military government.The confiscation at the Loulo-Gounkoto complex, majority owned by a Canadian firm, is one of the most extraordinary twists in a long-running confrontation …
West Africa juntas tighten screws on foreign mining firmsThu, 23 Jan 2025 14:37:35 GMT Read More »
Twenty-five families of victims and survivors of apartheid-era crimes are suing the South African government over a “gross failure” to investigate and prosecute perpetrators, said the rights group representing victims on Thursday. The suit filed Monday at the Pretoria High Court targets President Cyril Ramaphosa, the justice and police ministers and the heads of the public …
Gabon’s transitional government said Thursday that presidential elections would be held on April 12, a key step towards re-establishing civilian rule promised by the ruling junta.Transitional president General Brice Oligui Nguema has ruled the oil-rich country since seizing power in a 2023 coup, ending decades of rule by the Bongo dynasty.Oligiu has vowed to hand …
Gabon announces presidential election to end military ruleThu, 23 Jan 2025 13:41:35 GMT Read More »
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy visits Cairo on Thursday to press local officials to release a jailed British-Egyptian pro-democracy campaigner.Alaa Abdel Fattah was arrested by Egyptian authorities in September 2019 and handed a five-year sentence for “spreading false news” in a Facebook post on torture in Egypt’s prisons.His British-born mother, 68-year-old Laila Soueif, has spent …
UK foreign minister in Egypt to push for activist’s releaseThu, 23 Jan 2025 11:27:23 GMT Read More »
The M23 armed group has seized further territory in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo and on Thursday was continuing to tighten its grip on provincial capital Goma, which is almost surrounded by fighting.Weaknesses within the Congolese army, as well as backing from Rwanda are aiding the fighters of the M23, according to …
A strange sight appears on the streets of Mogadishu: a figure dressed all in black, including a cowboy hat, riding a horse through the beeping traffic of tuk-tuks and motorbikes.Stranger still in conservative Somalia, the rider is a woman. Shukri Osman Muse said she is “delighted to be the first female equestrian in the country — …
Luggage on their backs, they trudged all Wednesday morning along the road leading to downtown Goma, fleeing the advancing fighters in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.Streams of displaced people have flocked from Minova, a port city the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group has already captured as it conquers swathes of territory at the expense of …
Fear abounds as M23 fighters close in on DR Congo’s GomaWed, 22 Jan 2025 21:21:21 GMT Read More »
