News | Latest Breaking News Stories & Headlines

42 people, including 27 schoolboys, were abducted from the Government Science College in Kagara

42 freed after Nigeria school abductions

Kidnappers have freed 42 people, including 27 children, snatched from a school in central Nigeria ten days ago, officials said, a day after more than 300 schoolgirls were abducted by gunmen in the northwest.

World • 27 Feb 21

Supporters of incumbent Ugandan Presdent Yoweri Museveni celebrate in the streets of Kampala today

Uganda's Museveni declared winner of presidential poll

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni won a decisive re-election victory today, elections officials said, but his main rival Bobi Wine alleged widespread fraud and said citizens should reject the result.

World • 16 Jan 21

People walk in a town near Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, in Uganda

5 things to know about Uganda

World • 14 Jan 21

Ethiopian troops seen patrolling the streets of Addis Ababa (file image)

Ethiopian army deployed after 100 die in attacks

Ethiopia's military killed 42 people allegedly among those responsible for massacring more than 100 civilians in a troubled western part of the country, local officials have said.

World • 24 Dec 20

The world's chocolate market is estimated to be worth more than $100 billion, concentrated in a small number of multinational corporations

Chocolate wars: Producers v Multinationals

The world's two biggest cocoa suppliers, Ivory Coast and Ghana, have taken a tussle with chocolate multinationals to the battlefield of public opinion.

News Lens • 02 Dec 20

Ethiopian refugees at the Um Rakuba camp in Sudan

UN says major humanitarian crisis unfolding in Ethiopia

A "full-scale humanitarian crisis" is unfolding in Ethiopia, the United Nations refugee agency has said, with more than 27,000 people now having fled heavy fighting to Sudan.

World • 17 Nov 20

Training for militia men, who fight alongside federal and regional forces in Tigray

Amnesty says scores of civilians massacred in Ethiopia

Scores and possibly hundreds of labourers have been killed in Ethiopia's Tigray region, human rights group Amnesty International said, as federal troops claimed major advances in their offensive against local forces.

World • 12 Nov 20

Members of the Amhara militia that fight alongside federal and regional forces against the northern region of Tigray

How Ethiopia reached the brink of civil war

Ethiopia's military announced last week it had "entered into a war" with the northern region of Tigray, leading to fears of a protracted conflict in Africa's second most populous nation.

News Lens • 11 Nov 20

Two weeks of spiralling protests in Nigeria

For two weeks Nigeria has been rocked by protests that erupted against police violence and evolved into broader anti-government demonstrations led by the country's youth, leading to a deadly crackdown.

News Lens • 21 Oct 20

Witnesses said armed gunmen opened fire on a crowd of over 1,000 people to disperse them after a curfew was imposed

At least 12 killed in Nigeria shootings - Amnesty

Nigerians were in shock after a shooting of peaceful protesters in the biggest city Lagos that Amnesty International blamed on security forces.

World • 21 Oct 20

More than 116,000 Indian infants died from air pollution in the first month of life

Air pollution killed 500,000 newborns in 2019 - study

Air pollution killed 476,000 newborns in 2019, with the biggest hotspots in India and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Environment • 21 Oct 20

At least 45 migrants die in shipwreck off Libyan coast

At least 45 migrants and refugees perished off Libya this week in the deadliest shipwreck there so far this year, the United Nations has said.

World • 19 Aug 20

Malian Armed Forces at Independence Square in Bamako, Mali

Rebel troops seize Mali's president and prime minister

Rebel troops have seized the President of Mali, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, and the Prime Minister, Boubou Cisse, in a dramatic escalation of a months-long crisis.

World • 18 Aug 20

The vaccine, developed by the Oxford Jenner Institute, is already being evaluated in Britain

South Africa to start continent's first vaccine pilot

South Africa will roll out the continent's first coronavirus vaccine trial this week, the university leading the pilot said today, as the country grapples with the highest number of cases in Africa.

World • 23 Jun 20

There is another Ebola outbreak in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo which has killed 2,280 people since August 2018

Fresh Ebola outbreak reported in DR Congo

A fresh Ebola outbreak has been reported in the northwest of the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the country's health ministry.

World • 01 Jun 20

Around one million tourists visit Kenya every year to see the country's famous national parks

Pandemic poachers aim to make a killing

Criminal poaching gangs are targeting and attempting to recruit vulnerable people in Kenya who were left unemployed by the collapse of the country's tourism industry due to the Covid-19 pandemic, writes Jackie Fox.

World • 16 May 20

Workers make facemasks at a factory in Accra, Ghana

Ghana lifts virus lockdown in key regions

Ghana has ended a three-week lockdown on two key regions as the west African nation's leader said testing had improved and the measures were having a "severe" impact on the poor.

Coronavirus • 20 Apr 20

Lesotho premier Thomas Thabane has promised to retire by the end of July

Lesotho army withdraws from the streets

Lesotho troops deployed by Prime Minister Thomas Thabane have left from the capital's streets as a showdown brews between him and opponents demanding his immediate resignation.

World • 20 Apr 20

Flooding has hit eastern Congo hard for several weeks

Floods claim lives in Democratic Republic of Congo

A local official has estimated that 25 people have been killed by flooding in eastern Congo.

World • 18 Apr 20

The countries to receive immediate debt relief are nearly all in Africa

IMF debt relief for 25 countries over Covid-19

The International Monetary Fund has announced immediate debt relief for 25 poor countries to help them free up funds to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

Coronavirus • 14 Apr 20

People carry supplies on the streets of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

African countries unprepared for the storm

At a time when many African nations are already struggling with malnutrition, disease and a lack of healthcare facilities, the Covid-19 pandemic could be disastrous for developing countries on the continent.

Coronavirus • 02 Apr 20

Members of the South African National Defence Force patrol a street in Johannesburg, South Africa, the continent's worst-affected country

Anxiety over threat of coronavirus in Africa

Africa could be devastated by Covid-19 if it spreads across the continent like the way it has in Europe, according to the deputy director for Africa with the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Coronavirus • 27 Mar 20

The attack early is part of an expanding jihadist campaign in the vast, marshy Lake Chad area

92 Chadian soldiers killed in attack by Boko Haram

Boko Haram jihadists have killed nearly 100 Chadian soldiers in a seven-hour attack on an island army base, in their deadliest assault yet on the African country's armed forces.

News • 24 Mar 20

Mozambique is generally seen as a smuggling corridor for migrants seeking to make their way to South Africa

64 found dead in freight container in Mozambique

Sixty-four migrants from Ethiopia were found dead on Tuesday inside a freight container in the northwestern Mozambican province of Tete, a senior hospital official said.