After dropping off children at school, South African minibus driver “Roro” Mokgele Ramathe parks up and strips down to his training kit underneath.Sporting a short goatee and a jovial smile, the 42-year-old, popularly known as Roro is ready to hit the streets of Soweto again, training for one of the world’s oldest ultra-distance races, the …

‘Comrades’ ultra-marathon, a symbol of hope in S.AfricaThu, 08 Jun 2023 06:58:44 GMT Read More »

Iyinoluwa Aboyeji might not have the personal wealth of Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg, but his level of success as an African entrepreneur bears comparison with any Silicon Valley tech titan.While still in his twenties, the Nigerian co-founded two “unicorns”, an industry term for companies that achieve a valuation of more than $1 billion.By most …

African space tech? Don’t rule it out, says Nigeria’s startup kingThu, 08 Jun 2023 06:42:28 GMT Read More »

Ruined, bullet-pocked buildings line the stony track leading to the PK3 — a makeshift camp housing tens of thousands of people that bears witness to one of the world’s forgotten conflicts.A decade ago, civil war broke out in the Central African Republic (CAR), one of the poorest and the most volatile countries in the world.Over …

Central Africa’s camp city testifies to a forgotten warThu, 08 Jun 2023 06:11:54 GMT Read More »

Life on the streets is grim and desperate, says “Business,” a homeless teen in DR Congo’s capital Kinshasa.”Your body ends up worn out,” he says, describing a doomed path to limbo, ending up like “a prostitute grandmother, something which isn’t supposed to exist.”A 19-year-old with big ambitions, “Business” — a rough translation of his French …

In DR Congo’s capital, homeless teens pin future on rapThu, 08 Jun 2023 05:50:31 GMT Read More »

Rwandan President Paul Kagame has embarked on a major shakeup of the country’s military, with a round of dismissals announced Wednesday after the appointment of a new defence minister, army chief and head of internal security.Army spokesman Ronald Rvivanga told local media that two long-serving generals, Major General Aloys Muganga and Brigadier General Francis Mutiganda, …

Rwanda’s Kagame orders major military purgeWed, 07 Jun 2023 17:56:15 GMT Read More »

National flag carrier Ethiopian Airlines has been summoned for a court hearing Friday over claims by a human rights group that it discriminated against travellers from Tigray, according to court documents seen by AFP.The airline, which has a monopoly on domestic flights, resumed air links between the capital Addis Ababa and the Tigray region after a …

Rights group sues Ethiopian Airlines for ‘discriminating’ against TigrayansWed, 07 Jun 2023 15:52:08 GMT Read More »

Rwanda is casting a shadow over the Democratic Republic of Congo’s upcoming presidential election, with arrests of prominent Congolese figures suspected of colluding with the country’s neighbour.Relations between the two Central African states have been dire since the late 2021 re-emergence of the M23 rebel group, which has captured swathes of territory in eastern Congo.Kinshasa …

Spectre of Rwanda looms over coming DR Congo electionWed, 07 Jun 2023 15:15:44 GMT Read More »

UN war crimes judges ruled Wednesday that ageing Rwandan genocide suspect Felicien Kabuga is unfit to stand trial but should still go through a stripped-down legal process.Former tycoon Kabuga, who is 88 according to officials but claims to be 90, is accused of setting up a hate broadcaster that fuelled the 1994 slaughter of around …

Rwanda genocide suspect Kabuga ruled unfit for trialWed, 07 Jun 2023 12:34:02 GMT Read More »

Along a polluted riverside, smoking charred oil drums in Mathare are cooking up chang’aa, a potent liquor that’s both a scourge and a lifeline.In this slum in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, back-alley distilleries are famous for cheap moonshine that’s powerful enough to fell grown men. Twenty Kenyan shillings (15 US cents) will buy you a glass …

Deadly booze brings profit and pain to Kenya’s streetsWed, 07 Jun 2023 09:54:48 GMT Read More »

A South African court on Wednesday threw out ex-president Jacob Zuma’s bid to try the lead prosecutor in his much-delayed corruption case, removing another hurdle preventing the trial from moving ahead.Zuma, who served as president from 2009 to 2018 before being forced out over graft allegations, faces charges of corruption in an arms scandal dating …

S.Africa’s Zuma loses bid to prosecute chief graft attorneyWed, 07 Jun 2023 08:53:34 GMT Read More »