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outh African President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced a judicial inquiry into allegations of political interference in the prosecution of apartheid-era crimes. The announcement comes three decades after the end of white-minority rule – and after a group of survivors and victims’ relatives sued Ramaphosa’s government over a perceived lack of justice. The Truth and Reconciliation […]

A former biology teacher-turned-environmentalist is on a crusade in Uganda to save the once-flourishing trees from which shea butter is made – the cosmetic known as “women’s gold”. Mustafa Gerima wants local communities to stop chopping down the trees to make charcoal – which they say is more profitable than the oil, also used in […]

A Kenyan member of parliament has been shot dead in the streets of the capital Nairobi by gunmen on a motorcycle in a suspected assassination. Police said the attackers had been trailing Charles Ong’ondo Were’s vehicle before one of them got off the motorbike and shot him at close range. “The nature of this crime […]

At least 68 African migrants have been killed in a US air strike on a detention centre in Houthi-controlled north-western Yemen, the armed group’s TV channel says. Al Masirah reported that another 47 migrants were injured, most of them critically, when the centre in Saada province was bombed. It posted graphic footage showing multiple bodies […]

Now predominantly Muslim, North Africa was once a Christian heartland, producing Catholic popes who left their mark on the Church to this day. Their papacies were in the era of the Roman Empire, which stretched across modern-day Tunisia, the north-east of Algeria and the coast of western Libya. “North Africa was the Bible Belt of […]

A senior figure from South Africa’s ruling ANC party has defended his country’s sovereignty amid growing tensions with the US over race relations and a new land law. “We are a free country, we’re a sovereign country. We’re not a province of the United States and that sovereignty will be defended,” ANC National Chair Gwede […]

Namibia’s agriculture minister has been sacked after being accused of raping a 16-year-old girl five years ago. Mac-Albert Hengari was arrested on Saturday after allegedly attempting to bribe the victim, now 21, to withdraw the case against him, the police say. Hengari, 59, who has denied any wrongdoing, appeared in court on Monday and was […]

At least 68 African migrants have been killed in a US air strike on a detention centre in Houthi-controlled north-western Yemen, the armed group’s TV channel says. Al Masirah reported that another 47 migrants were injured, most of them critically, when the centre in Saada province was bombed. It posted graphic footage showing multiple bodies […]

The members of Kenya’s security forces who shot dead anti-tax protesters at the country’s parliament last June have been identified by the BBC. The BBC’s analysis of more than 5,000 images also shows that those killed there were unarmed and not posing a threat. The East African nation’s constitution guarantees the right to peaceful protest, […]

Benin’s government has admitted that 54 soldiers were killed by suspected jihadists in the country’s north last week near the borders with Burkina Faso and Niger. The authorities had previously said that only eight soldiers were killed. The revised figure makes it the deadliest known attack since insurgents began operating in northern Benin at the […]