AFP Africa

Tanzania’s main opposition party demanded Monday the release of its top leaders who were detained in a mass roundup ahead of a banned youth day rally, a move condemned by rights activists as “troubling”.Those arrested include Chadema party chairman Freeman Mbowe and his deputy Tundu Lissu — both former presidential candidates — as well as …

Tanzania arrests opposition leaders in mass round-upMon, 12 Aug 2024 15:15:41 GMT Read More »

The leader of a Kenyan starvation sect went on trial for manslaughter on Monday over the deaths of more than 400 of his followers in one of the world’s worst cult-related tragedies.Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie and dozens of other suspects pleaded not guilty in January to multiple counts of manslaughter, one of several cases …

Kenya cult leader on trial for manslaughter over mass deathsMon, 12 Aug 2024 14:51:06 GMT Read More »

Esther Nalukwago, a 42-year-old mother of twins, fled half-dressed in panic when a torrent of rotting garbage engulfed her home in the Ugandan capital Kampala, in a disaster that has claimed the lives of at least 23 people including children. “I saw one side of my room collapsing. I dashed out half-naked,” she recounted to AFP …

‘Fear and panic’: Ugandans recount deadly garbage landslideMon, 12 Aug 2024 13:21:40 GMT Read More »

Aviation staff at Kenya’s main international airport will go on strike from next week over a contested investment proposal from an Indian conglomerate, their union said on Monday. About 10,000 members of the Kenya Aviation Workers Union will walk out from August 19, its secretary general Moss Ndiema told AFP. The dispute centres on plans by the …

Kenya aviation workers to strike over airport deal: unionMon, 12 Aug 2024 12:20:26 GMT Read More »

Amna Hussein sat grieving in a disaster relief tent in eastern Sudan, where she fled with her children after deadly floods displaced thousands in a country already reeling from war.”My father died in the floods,” Hussein said in Kassala, a state on the border with Eritrea.Sudan has experienced an intense rainy season since last month, …

Deadly floods in war-torn Sudan displace thousandsMon, 12 Aug 2024 09:24:27 GMT Read More »

The death toll from a garbage landslide in the Ugandan capital Kampala has risen to 23, a city official said Monday.People and livestock were buried in mountains of waste at the landfill in the northern Kampala district of Kiteezi on Saturday after a collapse caused by heavy downpours.”The latest confirmed dead are 23,” Kampala city …

Uganda garbage landslide death toll rises to 23Mon, 12 Aug 2024 06:59:16 GMT Read More »

Tanzanian police have detained leading opposition Chadema party figures including former presidential candidate Tundu Lissu, and rounded up several hundred youth supporters, a Chadema official said on Monday.The Chadema leaders were arrested in the southwestern city of Mbeya, where the party was due to hold a rally on Monday to mark International Youth Day, Chadema’s …

Tanzania arrests top opposition figure Lissu in mass round-upMon, 12 Aug 2024 06:51:09 GMT Read More »

Wolde Meressa lives cheek by jowl in a cramped classroom with 30 other people in a school that has been converted into a shelter for displaced people in Ethiopia’s war-scarred region of Tigray.Around him in his makeshift home in Tigray’s capital Mekele is a jumble of pots, clothes and water containers.”By staying here, we are …

‘Waiting for death’: desperate plight of Tigray’s war displacedMon, 12 Aug 2024 01:29:56 GMT Read More »

Nineteen people including five children are confirmed dead after a landslide at a huge garbage dump in the Ugandan capital Kampala, a senior official said on Sunday, amid claims the site was a disaster waiting to happen.Local media said homes, people and livestock were buried in mountains of waste at the landfill in the northern …

19 dead after Uganda rubbish dump landslideSun, 11 Aug 2024 17:09:17 GMT Read More »

Rwanda’s all-powerful President Paul Kagame was sworn in Sunday for a fourth term, saying regional peace was a “priority” in the face of ongoing conflict in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.Kagame swept to victory in elections last month with a staggering 99.18 percent of the vote, giving him another five years in office.Several dozen …

Rwanda’s Kagame sworn in saying regional peace ‘a priority’Sun, 11 Aug 2024 16:10:25 GMT Read More »