NEWS - The African Mirror

Apr

2024

Is Rwanda a safe place to send LGBTQ+ asylum seekers from the UK?

LGBTQ+ rights groups are concerned that gay, bisexual, and transgender refugees could face discrimination and abuse if they are sent to Rwanda under Britain's policy to deport asylum seekers to the East African nation. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised to start sending asylum seekers to Rwanda within 10 to 12 weeks as the upper house of parliament finally passed the required legislation, delayed for weeks by attempts to alter the contentious plan. As LGBTQ+ rights groups criticise the plan, Illegal Migration Minister Michael Tomlinson said on Tuesday that "openly gay" asylum seekers would be sent to Rwanda. "It is not unlawful to be…

Apr

2024

By The African Mirror

Moroccan man guilty of murdering man in UK in revenge for Gaza

NEWS

A Moroccan man who stabbed to death a passer-by in the street in northeast England in what he later told police was revenge for Israeli action in Gaza was found guilty of murder. Ahmed Alid, 45, who had sought asylum in Britain, killed his 70-year-old victim after approaching him from behind on a road in Hartlepool in the early hours of October 15 last year, having previously attacked his housemate with two knives, prosecutors said. After his arrest, he told detectives he had committed the acts because of the conflict in Gaza, and in revenge for Israel killing innocent children,…

Apr

2024

By CAMILLUS EBOH and OPE ADETAYO

More than 100 inmates escape after rain damages Nigerian prison

NEWS

AT least 118 inmates escaped from prison after heavy rains damaged the facility in Suleja near the Nigerian capital, a prison service spokesperson said. The downpour, which lasted several hours, wrecked parts of the medium-security prison, including the perimeter wall and surrounding buildings, spokesperson Adamu Duza said in a statement on Thursday. Service agents were hunting the fugitives and had so far recaptured 10 of them with the help of other security agencies. "We are in hot chase to recapture the rest," Duza said. He assured the public the authorities were on top of the situation. "The public is further…

Apr

2024

By NGOUDA DIONE and ZOHRA BENSEMRA

I thought I would be next – survivor of migrant sea disaster

NEWS

ADFIFT on the Atlantic Ocean, the migrants from West Africa resorted to drinking seawater to quench their unbearable thirst. Then they started dying one by one. Disposing of the bodies became a daily trial for those still alive on the brightly painted wooden fishing boat. “I thought I would be next, that one morning, I too would be dead and in the sea,” said Birane Mbaye, one of 101 men and boys who set off from a fishing village on a wild stretch of Senegal’s coastline last July hoping to reach Europe. They never made it. Back home in Fass Boye,…

Apr

2024

By BONFACE ORUCHO, BIRD STORY AGENCY

Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire look to reshape the world’s cocoa industry

NEWS

GHANAIAN cocoa supply chain expert and co-founder, Gazali Halidu, believes a new alliance between Africa's two biggest cocoa producers “holds the potential to transform the cocoa sector.” “It has the potential to address revenue imbalances, support farmer livelihoods, and promote sustainable practices,” Halidu shared in an interview with bird story agency. The alliance between Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana, the world’s top two producers of cocoa, comes as a sharp decline in production volumes and a deterioration of producer prices hits the market. The countries recently commissioned the Cote d’Ivore-Ghana Cocoa Initiative (CGCI) Secretariat building in Accra as the two countries…

Apr

2024

By The African Mirror

Kenyan military deployed as East Africa floods kill dozens

NEWS

KENYA'S military was deployed to rescue victims of heavy rains that have killed dozens of people across East Africa over the past month. At least 45 people have died in the floods in Kenya since March, including 10 since Monday, the Kenya Red Cross said. Large parts of the capital Nairobi and other major towns are underwater, forcing thousands of residents to leave their homes. Collins Obondo, 38, lost at least four relatives in the flooding on Wednesday in Nairobi's densely-populated Mathare neighbourhood, which lies along the Nairobi River. "The body of my mother's neighbour was trapped right across here…

Apr

2024

By The African Mirror

South Africa extends troop deployment in Mozambique and Congo

NEWS

SOUTH Africa's military will extend the deployment of its troops in conflict-hit Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo, President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement. The extension, for an unspecified amount of time, will keep 1,198 personnel of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) in eastern Congo, where they are part of a U.N. peacekeeping force helping Congo fight rebel groups. The statement also said that 1,495 SANDF members would continue their operations in Mozambique, where they have been supporting the government's fight against violent extremism in northern areas since 2021. South Africa's military deployments abroad have come…

Apr

2024

By DUNCAN MIRIRI

Kenyan government recommends regulating, not banning, TikTok

NEWS

KENYA'S government has advised lawmakers against banning TikTok over concerns about content shared on the platform and instead recommended stricter oversight by regulators. A panel in parliament has been considering a petition from a Kenyan citizen to ban the Chinese-owned platform. The recommendation follows accusations from the interior ministry that the platform has been used to spread propaganda, carry out fraud and distribute sexual content. "Rather than imposing a ban on TikTok, the ministry proposes adoption of a co-regulation model," the information and communication ministry said in an advisory to the panel, which was shared with Reuters on Thursday. The ministry proposed…

Apr

2024

By CATARINA DEMONY

Portugal must ‘pay costs’ of slavery and colonial crimes, president says

NEWS

PRESIDENT Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said that Portugal was responsible for crimes committed during transatlantic slavery and the colonial era, and suggested there was a need for reparations. For over four centuries, at least 12.5 million Africans were kidnapped, forcibly transported long distances by mainly European ships and merchants, and sold into slavery. Those who survived the voyage ended up toiling on plantations in the Americas, mostly in Brazil and the Caribbean, while others profited from their labour. Portugal trafficked nearly 6 million Africans, more than any other European nation, but has failed so far to confront its past and…

Apr

2024

By NUZULACK DAUSEN

World Bank suspends Tanzania tourism fund over abuse allegations

NEWS

THE World Bank has suspended new disbursements from a $150 million fund to expand a national park in southern Tanzania, a spokesperson said, after the lender received allegations of killings and evictions by rangers last year. Two anonymous complainants have accused rangers from the Ruaha National Park of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, evictions, torture and cattle seizures perpetrated against local villagers, according to the World Bank's independent complaints mechanism. "The World Bank is deeply concerned about the allegations of abuse and injustice related to the... project in Tanzania," a spokesperson said in a statement. "We have therefore decided to suspend…