Region

Winnie Byanyima, the executive director of UNAIDS speaking at the conference The world’s response against HIV has stalled amid shrinking resources due to Covid-19 and other crises, according to a new report presented at the International AIDS Conference in Montreal, Canada. Globally, new HIV infections fell just 3.6 percent between…

Burkina Faso’s former president Blaise Compaore, sentenced in absentia to life in jail for the 1987 assassination of revolutionary icon Thomas Sankara, apologised to the ex-leader’s family on Tuesday. “I ask the Burkinabe people for forgiveness for all the acts I may have committed during my tenure, and especially the…

Kigali — For many years, East African countries were considered wildlife trafficking hotspots. Now conservation organisations have started to mobilise all stakeholders to combat the illegal trade that targets animals – some to the edge of extinction. “A slight progress has been made in combatting the illicit trade of wildlife…

A court in Ethiopia has ordered arrest of former Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn after he refused to respond to a court summon. Desalegn has been charged by the Ethiopian High Court with a felony criminal mischief. What this essentially means is that he was summoned to appear as a…

Aerial view of the Gatuna/Katuna border before it was closed Confusion reigned at the main border post between Rwanda and Uganda after its official reopening on Monday, with frustrated Rwandans saying they were blocked from crossing. In a surprise announcement last week, Kigali said the frontier would be open again…

GENEVA — The government of Ethiopia has sent a letter to the World Health Organization, accusing its Ethiopian director-general of “misconduct” after his sharp criticism of the war and humanitarian crisis in the country. Ethiopia nominated Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to be the head of the U.N. health agency four years…

Democratic Republic of the Congo President Felix Tshisekedi signs Secretary Pompeo’s guestbook before their meeting at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., on April 3, 2019. [Photo by State Department] President of Democratic Republic of Congo Felix Tshisekedi has promised to limit the operations and presence of the…

These State-of-the-art scanners can see everything in a human or cargo The Uganda government has began installing cargo, baggage, and walk-through scanners at Uganda-Rwanda border checkpoints. Kampala says the scanners are meant to “increase trade efficiency while simultaneously preventing cross-border terrorism and illegal commerce”. According to Charles Wanjala, the Uganda…

In July 2019, Uganda police fired tear gas in apparent action to stop fight between students of two different schools in eastern Uganda. Over 50 students were admitted to hospitals On March 14, 2019, heavily armed Ugandan police reportedly fired teargas and live ammunition at secondary school students participating in…

Tackling the root causes behind Mozambique’s insurgency is the only way to provide a lasting solution, experts have said. Counterterrorism in Mozambique was one of the topics of discussion at the Sovereign Security Africa 2021 conference held in late August, which also brought together experts to look at cyber warfare…

Cuba is vaccinating children as young as 2yrs with its own vaccine Cuba has become the first country in the world to vaccinate children as young as two years old. However, the jabs given to the children are homegrown which has not been recognised by the World Health Organization (WHO).…

President Yoweri Museveni with Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto during one of the several previous meetings The reverberations from a scandal in which Kenya’s powerful deputy president William Ruto was blocked from travelling to Uganda, are growing by the day. This time, the target is Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni. The…

Uganda President Yoweri Museveni with First Lady gestures as he welcomes Burundi’s counterpart Evariste Ndayishimiye and First Lady during visit earlier this year The International Monetary Fund said Tuesday that though supply chains in Burundi’s neighbours and trading partners had been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Burundi itself had not…

President Salva Kiir Mayardit is not a happy man he heaps all his troubles the opposition, IGAD and the international community South Sudanese President Salva Kiir has come out guns blazing against regional neighbors he accuses of helping to foment war in his country. Singling out Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta,…

These were smugglers arrested before Government of Rwanda has dismissed fresh allegations raised by a UN panel that minerals from DR Congo continue to be smuggled through its territory. The UN Group of Experts on DR Congo in latest report released last week claimed that cross-border smuggling of untagged tantalum…

People are still fleeing their homes running for safety The UN refugees agency is appealing for more help for tens of thousands of people displaced by a volcanic eruption last month.  An estimated 450,000 people have fled Goma, about 40% of the city’s population. Around 120,000 of those have arrived…

RDF Combined Arms Field Training Exercise in eastern Rwanda Leaders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have reportedly expressed unease at a suggestion to have Rwandan troops deployed in Mozambique.  At Troika Summit on Thursday last week in Mozambique, President Filipe Jacinto Nyusi’s colleagues pushed back at the idea…

He has operated on thousands of survivors of rape but now the powers that be want him dead Over the last two decades, Dr Denis Mukwege has seen his fair share of horrors. The Nobel laureate and his colleagues have treated tens of thousands of war rape survivors at Hospital…

The new Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu inspects the Guard of Honour Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu has announced that she will form a COVID-19 taskforce to guide her administration on the status of the pandemic in the country. In a move seen as a shift from the hardline position taken by…

The EAC bloc includes Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Uganda and South Sudan A bill seeking to amend the antigraft law and whose passage will see bribe-givers for the first time along with the bribe takers fined by law, has entered a crucial lawmaking process at the East African Legislative Assembly…

The announcement issued Wednesday Three online radio stations operated by exiled Burundian journalists have announced they are suspending broadcasts. The radios; Radio Publique Africaine (RPA), Télé Renaissance and Radio Inzamba – all released a joint statement this Wednesday announcing the decision to halt operations immediately. These media platforms were also…

DRC President Felix Tshisekedi arrived last night More than ten presidents from across the globe are attending the burial of Tanzania’s fifth president John Maguli, whose body will be set up for mourning in the national capital Dodoma today, March 22. Among the leaders includes: Uhuru Kenyatta (Kenya), Filipe Nyusi…

In eastern Congo, militias killed more than 2,000 people in 2020. The many rebel groups in the volatile region have several women as members. Meet a female combatant who was a victim of violence before taking up arms. “They killed almost my entire family and raped me. There was no…

Bosco Ntaganda during his trial at the ICC International Criminal Court (ICC) judges on Monday awarded $30 million (25.3 million euros) in reparations to victims of crimes for which a Congolese warlord was convicted including child soldiers and victims of rape and sexual slavery. Gen Bosco Ntaganda, known as “The…

Burundian refugees wait to board a UNHCR bus, eight kilometres from the Burundian/Rwandan border, which they crossed by foot, in Kamabuye, Rwanda, on Friday, May 1, 2015. (Photo by KATE HOLT) The UN has opted to implement deep cuts to food rations for refugees in Rwanda as donors appear more…

Leaders of the East African Community (EAC) bloc have adopted French as one of the official languages – joining English and Kiswahili. At a virtual summit held Saturday, the six leaders confirmed the addition of French. It means, it will become a major subject in schools around the community. In…

At the Rwanda-DR Congo border which has been closed since March 2020 In the border communities of the Great Lakes Region (GLR), small-scale cross border trade (SSCBT) is a source of income and livelihood. It provides access to goods and services that enable vulnerable households to increase their resilience against…

KAMPALA (Reuters) – Facebook has taken down a network in Uganda linked to the country’s ministry of information for using fake and duplicate accounts to post ahead of this week’s presidential election, the U.S. social media giant said on Monday. Ugandans vote on Thursday in a presidential election pitting long-time…

Laurent-Désiré Kabila Twenty-two men convicted over the 2001 assassination of former Democratic Republic of the Congo President Laurent-Desire Kabila have been released from prison after receiving pardons from current leader Felix Tshisekedi. Among those released on Friday from the Makala prison in the capital Kinshasa was the slain president’s former…

Pfizer offers to supply 50 million doses for health workersModerna, AstraZeneca have no vaccines available for Africa Africa has few options to procure Covid-19 vaccines as the outbreak of the disease worsens across many parts of the continent, South Africa’s presidency said. Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE have offered to supply Africa with…