Blog

The mineral-rich east of the Democratic Republic of Congo has been dogged by conflict for more than 30 years, since the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Numerous armed groups have competed with the central authorities for power and control of the potential fortune in this vast nation. The instability has sucked in neighbouring countries to devastating effect […]

Fierce fighting rages on in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo city of Goma, as rebels and the army exchange fire. “All we can hear [are] gunshots around the city,” one Goma resident, who has been trapped in his house since the weekend, told the BBC. Residents shared videos of M23 rebels patrolling Goma’s main […]

An ambitious initiative to vaccinate all livestock in Kenya is due to kick off this week amid fierce resistance from farmers that is being driven by misleading claims about the vaccines. It will cost farmers nothing to get their animals vaccinated as the government says it is footing the bill. But Robert Nkukuu, who keeps […]

Hundreds of South African servicemen, mostly black, who died during World War One have been honoured with a new memorial in Cape Town after going unrecognised for more than a century. The 1,772 men worked in dangerous and gruelling non-combatant roles in East Africa but until now, they had no known grave or commemoration. Individually […]

Police in Kenya have arrested a man carrying a mutilated corpse in his backpack, which he reportedly said belonged to his 19-year-old wife. Officers came across 29-year-old John Kiama Wambua while patrolling Huruma, a district east of Nairobi, just before dawn. Suspecting Wambua was carrying something illegal, they searched his backpack and “to their shock” […]

For more than 50 years, one family has dedicated itself to caring for the biggest graveyard in Nigeria’s northern city of Kaduna – much to the gratitude of other residents who do not fancy the job of dealing with the dead. Until a few weeks ago, they did it for no formal pay – digging […]

Israel says it has killed two armed men, suspected of carrying out a shooting attack that killed three Israelis in the occupied West Bank earlier this month. Qutaiba Shalabi and Mohammed Nazzal were killed after a fierce gun battle with Israeli forces on Wednesday night in Burqin, near the northern West Bank city of Jenin. […]

Incoming first lady Melania Trump has launched a cryptocurrency on the eve of her husband’s inauguration as US president. The announcement comes after President-elect Donald Trump launched the $Trump cryptocurrency. Both coins have risen but have seen volatile trade. “The Official Melania Meme is live! You can buy $MELANIA now,” she posted on the social […]

China has executed a man found guilty of killing at least 35 people in a car attack in November, in what is thought to be the deadliest attack in the country for a decade. Fan Weiqiu, 62, injured dozens more when he drove his car into people exercising outside a stadium in the southern city […]

Since the war started the job had become his life. Many of the people being bombed were his neighbours, people he’d grown up with. Hatem Al-Atar, 25, wasn’t married. His bravery was not reckless, or born of ignorance. He knew he could die any second. “All days of war since 7 October until now were […]