NEWS - The African Mirror

Apr

10

2024

US must boost Africa ties to secure key minerals

NEWS

THE U.S. must boost commercial ties with African countries to curb reliance on China for supplies of critical minerals, a Washington-based think tank said. "U.S. economic and national security depends on securing a reliable supply of critical minerals, including from Africa," the United States Institute of Peace said in a report. The U.S. is almost 100% reliant on "foreign entities of concern," mainly China, for key critical minerals, it said, and must come up with its own sources of supply to avoid being shorthanded and vulnerable to China's export curbs. Western mining companies are lagging behind Chinese rivals in the race to…

Apr

09

2024

By DAVID LEWIS

Chad opposition figure was likely shot at point-blank range

NEWS

A prominent Chadian opposition leader, who was killed in February by government troops, appears to have been shot in the side of the head at close range, according to five forensic experts who reviewed a photo of his dead body for Reuters. The experts' findings, based on the location and nature of the wound visible in the image, call into question statements by Chadian officials that Yaya Dillo was shot dead in an exchange of fire on February 28 when security forces tried to arrest him at his party's headquarters in the capital, N’Djamena. Professor Derrick Pounder, a U.K.-based pathologist…

Apr

08

2024

By PHILBERT GIRINEMA

Rwanda’s president leads genocide commemoration 30 years on

NEWS

RWANDA'S president led commemorations to mark 30 years since the 1994 genocide that killed more than 1 million people and said the conditions that led to the slaughter would never be allowed to exist again in his country's politics. Over 100 days, starting on April 7 1994, Tutsis and moderate Hutus were systematically massacred by Hutu extremists, led by the Rwandan army and a militia known as the Interahamwe. Rwanda's President Paul Kagame and his wife led 37 visiting leaders at a wreath-laying ceremony at a genocide memorial in the capital Kigali that contains the remains of some 250,000 people. "Genocide…

Apr

08

2024

By The African Mirror

25 civilians killed in militia attack in eastern Congo

NEWS

THE death toll from an attack in a village in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo's Ituri province rose to 25, a local chief and civil society leader said after a government spokesman and a U.N. document confirmed the attack. The Cooperative for the Development of the Congo (CODECO) group, one of many militias operating in the conflict-ridden east, carried out the killings in the village of Galayi, 70 km (45 miles) northwest of the city of Bunia, they said. Fifteen bodies were discovered on Sunday, in addition to 10 bodies recovered on Saturday, Banzala Danny, a local chief, and Vital…

Apr

09

2024

By IFEDOTUN AINA,

South Africa’s crucial water supplies from Lesotho: what the six-month shutdown means for industry, farming and residents

NEWS

THE main water supply to South Africa’s economic hub, greater Johannesburg in the Gauteng province, and to the country’s breadbasket in the Free State, is scheduled to be cut off for six months. Maintenance work on the 37-kilometre Lesotho Highlands Water Project tunnel is due to begin in October 2024. Ifedotun Victor Aina, a senior researcher at the Water and Production Economics Research Unit at the University of Cape Town, takes a critical look at who could be affected by the shutdown and what might happen. What is the Lesotho Highlands Water Project? Why is it so important? It is…

Apr

09

2024

By The African Mirror

Briton who ran length of Africa says Congo kidnapping was only time he mulled quitting

NEWS

AFTER running the length of Africa, British extreme athlete Russ Cook said he only considered quitting once during his near year-long odyssey -- after he got kidnapped in the Congo by a gang armed with machetes. "The scariest moment was in the Congo, when I was on the back of a motorbike, thinking I was about to die, getting driven into the jungle. That was pretty nuts," the 27-year-old told reporters. "Probably for about one minute (I) thought about quitting, and then I realised I couldn't, so that was about as close as it got," he said. Cook's 16,000-kilometre route took…

Apr

07

2024

By RENEE MALTEZOU

Greek judge refers nine Egyptians to trial over deadly migrant shipwreck

NEWS

NINE Egyptian men who were on board a migrant boat that sank off Greece last year, killing hundreds of people, are to face trial next month, accused of people smuggling, Greek judicial sources said. The circumstances of the sinking of the Adriana in June remain a source of dispute between the Greek authorities and groups supporting the rights of survivors and migrants - meaning the trial could be the first opportunity to officially hear the accounts of some of those present at the time. Survivors have accused the Greek coastguard of capsizing the boat. The authorities, which monitored Adriana for…

Apr

07

2024

By CAMILLUS EBOH

Nigeria union requests more troops to combat oil theft

NEWS

NIGERIA'S oil workers union has asked President Bola Tinubu to deploy more troops, including military chiefs, to combat oil theft and boost output to help Africa's largest economy tackle dollar shortages, an official said. Large-scale oil theft from pipelines and wells has been one of Tinubu's biggest challenges in recent years, damaging government finances and limiting the country's output and exports. Nigeria, Africa's top oil producer, relies on the commodity for more than two-thirds of its earnings and about 90% of foreign exchange income. It has struggled to raise output as theft and sabotage have forced oil majors including Shel…

Apr

07

2024

By AMINDEH BLAISE ATABONG

Cameroon government defends imposition of coach on national football team

NEWS

CAMEROON'S sports minister has written to the National Football Federation (FECAFOOT) to defend the appointment of a new national soccer team coach after FECAFOOT expressed surprise the decision was taken without its input. In the letter seen by Reuters, minister Narcisse Mouelle Kombi said the ministry had acted in accordance with national and international regulations when it appointed Belgian Marc Brys to take over as coach of the Indomitable Lions after the dismissal of Rigobert Song in February. FECAFOOT on Wednesday said the ministry had appointed Brys unilaterally and vowed to seek an explanation for this "regrettable situation". Any dispute between the government and…

Apr

08

2024

By The African Mirror

What happened in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide?

NEWS

FOLLOWING are some details about the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 that killed more than 1 million people. Rwanda marked its 30th anniversary. WAR: * In 1990, rebels of the Tutsi-dominated Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) invaded northern Rwanda from neighbouring Uganda. The RPF's success prompted President Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu, to speed up political reforms. * In August 1993, Rwanda and the RPF signed a deal to end years of civil war, allowing for power-sharing and the return of refugees. Habyarimana was slow in implementing the agreement, and a transitional government failed to take off. THE SPARK: * On April 6,…