NEWS - The African Mirror

Mar

23

2024

Ghana parliament speaker criticises president for delaying anti-LGBTQ bill

NEWS, LGBTQIA+

GHANA'S speaker of parliament has said President Nana Akufo-Addo's refusal to act on an anti-LGBTQ bill for the time being was unconstitutional and that parliament would stop approving new ministerial appointments. One of Africa's harshest anti-LGBTQ laws, unanimously passed by Ghana's parliament last month, has been on hold since the president's office said it would wait for the outcome of two legal challenges before the law goes to Akufo-Addo for assent. The decision to wait came after a finance ministry warning that the bill could jeopardise $3.8 million in World Bank financing and derail a $3-billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan package. But it has sparked…

Mar

25

2024

By DIADIE BA and BATE FELIX

Opposition candidate Faye takes early lead in Senegal presidential polls

NEWS

EARLY results from Senegal's presidential vote put opposition candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye ahead, sending his supporters to celebrate in the streets, though his main rival from the ruling coalition said a run-off will be needed to determine the winner. At least five of the 19 candidates in the race issued statements as results trickled after the election on Sunday, congratulating Faye. Former prime minister Amadou Ba, the ruling coalition's candidate, said however that celebrations were premature. "For our part, and considering the feedback of the results from our team of experts, we are certain that, in the worst case scenario,…

Mar

24

2024

By The African Mirror

Nigerian army rescues 17 students kidnapped in northwest Sokoto

NEWS

NIGERIA'S army has rescued 17 students and a woman who were kidnapped in a dawn raid by armed men two weeks ago in northwest Sokoto state, the state governor said. The attack at Tsangaya school on March 9 came two days after the mass abduction of schoolchildren in Kaduna, also in the north. Those students are still missing. Sokoto Governor Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto said the Tsangaya students were freed on Friday following an operation coordinated by the army and the office of the National Security Adviser. "All the children have been found healthy and are ready to be reunited with their parents," he said…

Mar

24

2024

By The African Mirror

Embattled Speaker of the South African parliament fights arrest over R2-million graft

NEWS

IN a shock and bizarre move, Nosiviwe Mapisa Nqakula, the Speaker of Parliament, has turned to the court in a desperate attempt to stop her arrest on charges of fraud, corruption and has demanded special treatment. Mapisa, who went on special leave after her house was raided by law enforcement agencies, has now demanded, in court papers, that the police must disclose the evidence against her and arrange a date for her arrest. Her demand, described as bizarre to the extreme in legal circles, flies against the law in South Africa, where suspects are arrested on the strength of prima…

Mar

24

2024

By KRISHN KAUSHIK

India brings back 35 Somali pirates as part of operations near Red Sea

NEWS

THE Indian navy handed over 35 Somali pirates to the police in Mumbai on Saturday, after 100 days of anti-piracy operations east of the Red Sea, where piracy has resurfaced for the first time in nearly a decade. India, the largest national force in the Gulf of Aden and northern Arabian Sea region, captured the pirates from the cargo ship Ruen last week, three months after it was hijacked off the Somali coast. Taking advantage of Western forces' focus on protecting shipping from attacks in the Red Sea by Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi militants, pirates have made or attempted more than 20 hijackings…

Mar

24

2024

By The African Mirror

Uganda’s president appoints son as military chief

NEWS

Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has appointed his son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, as head of the military, the defence ministry said on Friday. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, 48, a general in the military, is widely seen as his father's successor in waiting and once stirred controversy by threatening to invade neighbouring Kenya. The ministry said in a statement he replaces Wilson Mbasu Mbadi, who was removed and appointed as a junior minister. In 2022, Museveni removed his son as commander of Uganda's land forces after he made threats to invade neighbouring Kenya in posts on social media platform X. In the posts, Kainerugaba also expressed support…

Mar

24

2024

By The African Mirror

Senegal’s ex-President Wade and party back opposition candidate Faye

NEWS

SENEGAL'S former President Abdoulaye Wade and his Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) endorsed opposition candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye, in a boost to Faye's chances of winning Sunday's presidential election. The move came after Wade's son, Karim Wade, was disqualified from contesting the race for the PDS because he was a dual citizen at the time he submitted his candidacy. He had been in the process of renouncing his French citizenship. A week ago, the country's Supreme Court rejected a PDS attempt to have the election delayed. The party had argued that irregularities and alleged corruption led to the elimination of their candidate. "Given…

Mar

22

2024

By GIULIA PARAVICINI, JONATHAN SAUL and ABDIQANI HASSAN

Somali pirates return, adding to global shipping crisis

NEWS

AS a speed boat carrying more than a dozen Somali pirates bore down on their position in the western Indian Ocean, the crew of a Bangladeshi-owned bulk carrier sent out a distress signal and called an emergency hotline. No one reached them in time. The pirates clambered aboard the Abdullah, firing warning shots and taking the captain and second officer hostage, Chief Officer Atiq Ullah Khan said in an audio message to the ship's owners. "By the grace of Allah no one has been harmed so far," Khan said in the message, recorded before the pirates took the crew's phones.…

Mar

22

2024

By The African Mirror

Five killed in fire at Perenco oil platform offshore Gabon

NEWS

FIVE people were killed and one is missing after a fire at a Perenco oil platform off the coast of Gabon, the Anglo-French oil company said in a statement. "Following the incident which took place yesterday at the Perenco Simba field offshore Gabon, the fire has been extinguished and the site has been safely secured," Perenco said. "We deeply regret to confirm that there have been five fatalities and one person is still missing." The accident occurred on Wednesday afternoon at the Becuna platform during a "workover" operation, an intervention done inside oil wells, said Gabon's oil ministry in an…

Mar

22

2024

By PORTIA CROWE and NGOUDA DIONE

After months in jail, Senegalese family vows to vote out ruling party

NEWS

WHEN Aramata Djiba was arrested and taken with her four-month-old baby to a maximum security prison in Senegal's capital Dakar, she said she felt it was the "end of the world". "I had no hope... I cried for a week," said the 29-year-old kindergarten teacher. She said she shared a cell, and a single toilet, with more than 40 other women for six months. Djiba, who was indicted in September alongside five of her relatives on criminal charges the family say were politically motivated, was released this week under a new amnesty law. Djiba is elated to be free, but nonetheless…