News

There was a huge plaster on Sarah Peter’s head to staunch the bleeding caused by the blow of a gunman’s weapon. Sarah, not her real name, was in church in a village in northern Nigeria on Sunday morning when attackers raided the compound to abduct the worshippers and take them away on foot. The 60-year-old […]

The life of Uganda’s veteran opposition figure Kizza Besigye is in danger, his wife has said after visiting him in prison. ”He is extremely weak,” said Winnie Byanyima in a statement posted on X. The 69-year-old politician had been taken overnight to a medical facility, the People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) party said, without specifying […]

South Africa’s Police Minister Firoz Cachalia has said that the security forces are not yet able to defeat deadly criminal gangs, in a stark admission that underscores the scale of the country’s crime crisis. Gang violence, alongside robberies, accounts for many murders in South Africa, which has one of the world’s highest homicide rates. Cachalia […]

Military authorities in coup-prone Guinea-Bissau have scheduled presidential and legislative elections for 6 December, despite calls for a swifter transition to civilian rule. Transitional President Horta N’Tam signed a decree on Wednesday after meeting members of the National Transitional Council, military, and government officials, as well as representatives of the electoral commission. He told reporters […]

Mobile money agent Mirembe Tracy laments that her business in Uganda’s bustling capital Kampala was paralysed when the government shut the internet during last week’s fiercely contested general election. “All withdrawals were disconnected,” she tells the BBC, adding that she gets nearly all of her income from withdrawal commissions. Without it, her income dropped to […]

Ethiopian Orthodox Christians have been celebrating the festival of Timket, or Epiphany, which commemorates the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan. In the town of Batu, on the shores of Lake Dambal in Ethiopia’s Oromia region, priests from the local churches escort replicas of the Ark of Covenant – also known as tabots – […]

Armed gangs have kidnapped dozens of people attending two churches in Nigeria’s Kaduna state, according to local police. A senior church leader said more than 160 worshippers were abducted by gunmen during Sunday service. It is the latest mass kidnapping in Nigeria, where both Christians and Muslims have been targeted. Gangs, known locally as “bandits”, […]

Senegal beat Morocco to win the Africa Cup of Nations for a second time – but only after the final was overshadowed when they temporarily refused to play after the hosts were awarded a stoppage-time penalty with the match goalless. Referee Jean Jacques Ndala gave the spot-kick in the 98th minute after being advised by […]

Senegal’s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye has declared Monday a public holiday after the national team won the Africa Cup of Nations after beating tournament hosts Morocco 1-0 in a dramatic final on Sunday. A disallowed goal, players walking off the pitch and a saved penalty made it a tense night in the stadium in the […]

Foday Musa looked broken as he listened to the last voice message he received from his son. It is 76 seconds long and the young man sounds desperate. He is crying, begging for his father’s help. “It’s so hard to hear. Hearing his voice hurts me,” Musa told BBC Africa Eye, which was given exclusive […]