News

Dozens of activists have staged a protest outside a mortuary in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, following the death of a 31-year-old man in police custody. Albert Omondi Ojwang’s death has sparked outrage in Kenya. He was arrested following a complaint by the deputy police chief, who accused him of tarnishing his name on social media. In […]

Police have ended their two-day stakeout of an apartment block in which Cameroon’s main opposition leader Maurice Kamto had been staying after he returned from France, where he had held a political rally that inflamed the ruling CPDM party. On Sunday law enforcement officers blocked the 71-year-old from leaving the building in the main city […]

Thousands gathered on Sunday in an ancient town in south-west Nigeria for a spectacular display of culture, colour and tradition. The Ojude Oba festival in Ijebu-Ode, brought together locals and visitors to pay homage to the Awujale – the traditional ruler of the Ijebu people. This union of drummers, musicians and dancers coupled with a […]

Liberia’s former speaker and three other members of the House of Representatives have been released from prison after paying a combined bond of $440,000 (£325,000). Jonathan Fonati Koffa, Abu Kamara, Dixon Seboe and Jacob Debee were charged over their alleged role in the burning of the Capitol building last December. All four men face several […]

A UK soldier has been accused of raping a woman near a British army training camp in Kenya where another soldier was previously accused of murder. The alleged rape happened last month close to the British Army Training Unit Kenya (Batuk) near the town of Nanyuki, 200km (125 miles) north of the capital, Nairobi. The […]

Kenya’s police chief has suspended the head of a police station and all officers who were on duty at the time when a man who had been detained for “false publication” died in custody. Albert Ojwang was arrested for a post on X in the western town of Homa Bay and then driven 350km (220 […]

The World Bank says it is lifting a ban on loans to Uganda that it had put in place two years ago when the country passed a draconian new law against LGBTQ people. In 2023, Uganda voted in some of the world’s harshest anti-homosexual legislation meaning that anybody engaging in certain same-sex acts can be […]

Zambia’s former President Edgar Lungu has died at the age of 68, his party has said in a statement. He had “been receiving specialized treatment in South Africa” for an undisclosed illness, the Patriotic Front (PF) added. Lungu led Zambia for six years from 2015, losing the 2021 election to the current President Hakainde Hichilema […]

The central African nation of Chad says it is suspending all visas to US citizens as a matter of “reciprocity”, after learning that it is one of a dozen countries whose nationals are banned from travelling to the US. “Chad has neither planes to offer nor billions of dollars to give, but Chad has its […]

Warning: This article contains details that some readers may find distressing. A Kenyan activist has told the BBC that he is “struggling to be alive” after allegedly being sexually tortured in detention in Tanzania last month. Boniface Mwangi said he had decided to speak despite the “shame and guilt of being sodomised with all manner […]