NEWS - The African Mirror

Mar

07

2024

By BOMIKAZI ZEKA and ABDUL LATIF ALHASSAN

Cost-of-living crisis: experts share 3 survival tips

NEWS

THE price increases for essential goods such as food, petrol and household utilities are a global concern, but the region most hurt by the surge in food prices is sub-Saharan Africa. The knock-on effect from the supply chain disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, climate disasters that resulted in food insecurity and energy shortages have driven prices through the roof. A report by Numbeo, which contains the world’s largest database on costs of living, found that South Africa is the ninth most expensive African country to live in and the most expensive in cost of living (in terms of groceries,…

Mar

07

2024

By MAXWELL AKALAARE ADOMBILA

Liberia’s civil war refugees left destitute after decades-old Ghana camp demolished

NEWS

SITTING on a tattered mattress amongst the rubble of his former home, Wendell Elijah Mallobe is one of 15,000 Liberian refugees left destitute after authorities in Ghana demolished the camp where he has lived for more than 30 years. "I don't know anybody in Liberia. Nobody. They burnt the village I was living in," said 55-year-old Mallobe, who arrived in the camp in 1990, after fleeing Liberia's civil war. "My bed, television, clothes - everything I have worked for is gone." More than 200,000 people were killed and thousands more were mutilated and raped in brutal civil wars in Liberia…

Mar

07

2024

By The African Mirror

Italy impounds charity ship involved in at sea dispute with Libya

NEWS

A German charity vessel was impounded by Italian authorities after it ran into a dispute with the Libyan coast guard over the rescue of as many as 100 migrants in international waters. Italy often temporarily blocks the operations of charity-operated rescue vessels based on a migration decree introduced last year by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's rightist government. The Humanity 1, operated by the SOS Humanity organisation, was blocked for 20 days in the southern port of Crotone, where it had docked on Monday bringing ashore 77 migrants it had picked up during the weekend. A spokesperson for SOS Humanity said the charity…

Mar

07

2024

By SEUN SANNI

Shell faces calls to safely decommission old assets before Nigeria exit

NEWS

NIGERIA needs to ensure that Shell safely dismantles its old infrastructure or pays to remove them from the Niger Delta before its exit, says a report on the environmental impact of the activities of multinational companies. Shell is set to exit from Nigeria's onshore oil and gas operations after agreeing in January to sell the business to a consortium of five mostly local companies for $2.4 billion. The deal is the latest by an international oil company seeking to divest from Nigeria's troubled onshore oil sector. But the cost of dismantling old assets could leave the country with environmental degradation, according to…

Mar

06

2024

By RACHEL SAVAGE

Ghana’s president says anti-LGBTQ bill has not reached his desk

NEWS

AN anti-LGBTQ bill passed by Ghana's parliament last week, which could derail international aid for the West African country if it becomes law according to an internal government memo, has not yet reached the desk of President Nana Akufo-Addo, he said on Monday. In his first comments on the bill's passage, he said Ghana would not backslide on its human rights record and added that the bill had been challenged in the Supreme Court. "I have learnt that today, a challenge has been mounted at the Supreme Court," Akufo-Addo said in a statement. "In the circumstances, it would be as well…

Mar

06

2024

By GEORGE OGOLA

Kenyans use humour to counter unpopular state policies – memes are the latest tool

NEWS

SEEMINGLY disillusioned with the country’s leadership, Kenyans have taken to new ways of expressing their anger and frustration with their government. On social media and in everyday conversations, President William Ruto is now referred to as Zakayo, named after the infamous Zaccheaus, the much-hated chief tax collector in biblical Jericho. Ruto is also called Kaunda Uongoman, which mimics the stage name of a controversial Congolese musician, Kanda Bongoman. The first name is a reference to Ruto’s recent penchant for Kaunda suits. The surname is a portmanteau of the Kiswahili word uongo, meaning liar, and man. These nicknames are examples of…

Mar

06

2024

By JASPREET SINGH and ADITYA SONI

Meta’s Facebook, Instagram back up after global outage

NEWS

META-OWNED Facebook and Instagram were back up after a more than two-hour outage that was caused by a technical issue and impacted hundreds of thousands of users globally. The disruptions started at around 10 a.m. ET (1500 GMT), with many users saying on rival social media platform X they had been booted out of Facebook and Instagram and were unable to log in. The White House National Security Council was monitoring the incident and was not aware of any specific malicious cyber activity at this time, a spokesperson said. At the peak of the outage, there were more than 550,000…

Mar

05

2024

By The African Mirror

US issues fresh curbs on Zimbabwe president, others; terminates sanctions program

NEWS

THE United States terminated a Zimbabwe sanctions program and reimposed curbs on nine people and three entities, including the country's president, over their alleged involvement in corruption or serious human rights abuse. WHY IT MATTERS Washington is seeking to make clear that the sanctions are not intended to target the people of Zimbabwe with Monday's move, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in a statement. "Today we are refocusing our sanctions on clear and specific targets: President (Emmerson) Mnangagwa’s criminal network of government officials and businesspeople who are most responsible for corruption or human rights abuse against the people of…

Mar

05

2024

By PAULA DUPRAZ-DOBIAS and JACOB GOLDBERG

Services under threat after UN emergency funding for gender-based violence runs out

NEWS

THE day after Luz Vargas crossed the border from Venezuela into Colombia, a group of men forced her into a car and told her to forget her family in Venezuela. She would not be able to contact them again, they said. Vargas thought they were joking. The former radiology assistant, now 38, decided in 2018 to leave her three children in Caracas to find a better-paying radiology job in Colombia. A friend arranged the transportation. She soon realised that her friend worked for traffickers. “They took my documents, locked me in the room, and drugged me,” Vargas told The New…

Mar

06

2024

By STEPHANIE VAN DEN BERG

ICC allows in absentia hearings in case against Ugandan warlord Kony

NEWS

JUDGES at the International Criminal Court (ICC) ruled that prosecutors can bring a hearing on charges against fugitive Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony in his absence on October 15. Kony, the founder and leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), is the ICC's longest-standing fugitive. An arrest warrant was issued against him in 2005. ICC prosecutors are looking to charge Kony with 36 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder, rape, using child soldiers, sexual slavery, forced marriage and forced pregnancy. Led by the now 62-year-old Kony, the LRA sowed fear among Ugandans for nearly 20 years as…