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Mali’s military junta has started building a gold refinery in partnership with a Russian conglomerate, the Yadran Group. The project would embody the West African nation’s assertion of its “economic sovereignty”, and ensure the nation benefited from its mineral wealth, military leader Gen Assimi Goïta said. He has strengthened military and economic ties with Russia […]
Kenyan protesters have clashed with club-carrying young men, believed to be loyal to the government, in the centre of the capital, Nairobi. The demonstration, held in the wake of the death in custody 10 days ago of blogger and teacher Albert Ojwang, was called to demand the sacking of a top police officer. Police initially […]
Belgian prosecutors say they are seeking to put on trial a 92-year-old former diplomat over his alleged role in the 1961 killing of Congolese independence hero Patrice Lumumba. Etienne Davignon is accused of involvement in the “unlawful detention and transfer” of Lumumba at the time he was taken prisoner and his “humiliating and degrading treatment”, […]
“My son died like an animal,” said Meshack Ojwang, before breaking down in tears in front of journalists outside Central Police Station in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. His only son Albert Ojwang had been arrested in their village of Kakoth, near the western town of Homa Bay, the day before – on Saturday 7 June 2025 […]
Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has signed into law an amendment that will allow, once again, civilians to be tried in a military court under certain circumstances. A previous law permitting such trials was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in January. Before that ruling, civilians could be taken to a military tribunal if they had […]
Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu has ordered security agencies to bring an end to a wave of killings in the central Benue state. It is believed that more than 200 people have died in a series of attacks across various communities in the last few days alone. Tinubu described the killings as “inhuman and anti-progress”. He […]
Kenya’s deputy police chief Eliud Lagat has stepped aside pending the outcome of investigations into the death in detention of blogger Albert Ojwang. Mr Lagat had been under pressure to resign from the opposition and human rights activists as Mr Ojwang was arrested after he filed a complaint, accusing the blogger of defaming him on […]
Sudan’s war is in strategic stalemate. Each side stakes its hopes on a new offensive, a new delivery of weapons, a new political alliance, but neither can gain a decisive advantage. The losers are the Sudanese people. Every month there are more who are hungry, displaced, despairing. The Sudan armed forces triumphantly announced the recapture […]
Construction is booming in Somalia’s capital city and as Mogadishu literally rises from the ashes of its violent past it is also giving unexpected opportunities to women like Fathi Mohamed Abdi and Saadia Ahmed Omar. The two young female engineers have been overseeing the construction of a 10-floor apartment complex in Taleh in the city’s […]
Fears of crime and gang violence in the notorious townships on the outskirts of South Africa’s city of Cape Town are forcing some parents to make difficult decisions to send their children on long daily commutes to former white-only schools. “Thugs would go into the school carrying guns threatening teachers, forcefully taking their laptops in […]