NEWS - The African Mirror

Jan

09

2024

Nigeria’s Tinubu suspends humanitarian minister facing financial probe

NEWS

NIGERIA'S president has suspended the minister of humanitarian affairs immediately and asked the corruption watchdog to investigate financial transactions involving her ministry, the president's spokesperson said on Monday. The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation Dr Betta Edu. Photo source: Facebook Betta Edu, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, is the first minister to be suspended, less than six months after her appointment by President Bola Tinubu, who won last year's disputed elections vowing to revive growth in Africa's biggest economy and fight corruption. Spokesperson Ajuri Ngelale said the president had directed the Economic and Financial Crimes…

Jan

09

2024

By The African Mirror

Uganda will soon be exporting oil: an energy economist outlines 3 keys to success

NEWS

UGANDA entered into agreements in 2012 with two foreign oil entities to exploit its oil resources. Total Energies holds 56.67% of the joint venture partnership and China National Oil Offshore Company (CNOOC) has 28.33%. Through Uganda National Oil Company, the government owns the remaining 15%. MICAH LUCY ABIGABA, Energy Economics Lecturer, Makerere University Production is due to start in 2025. As part of the production sharing agreement, the production licences are valid for 25 years upon extracting the first oil. To secure the best possible outcome for Uganda, the government needs to focus on three issues: the production sharing agreement,…

Jan

08

2024

By The African Mirror

Nigeria’s Dangote Group says it is cooperating with FX investigation

NEWS

NIGERIA'S Dangote Group said that it was cooperating with an anti-graft commission which is investigating the possible misuse of foreign exchange from the central bank and would provide all required information. In its first comments since the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) visited the company's headquarters in Lagos last week, Dangote confirmed that the agency's officers had sought some documents to help the investigation. The group is owned by Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote. It said it first received a request for documents last month and delivered a batch on Jan. 4 but the EFCC did not accept the documents, insisting…

Jan

08

2024

By ABDI SHEIKH

Somalia president signs law nullifying Ethiopia-Somaliland port deal

NEWS

SOMALIA'S President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud signed a law nullifying an agreement by the breakaway Somaliland region to grant Ethiopia access to the Red Sea in return for recognition as an independent nation, he said. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's stated ambition to secure access to the Red Sea is a source of tension between the Horn of Africa nation and its neighbours and has raised concerns of a fresh conflict in the region. Somalia, which considers Somaliland part of its territory, rejected the New Year's Day deal that would allow landlocked Ethiopia to lease 20 km (12 miles) around the port of…

Jan

07

2024

By The African Mirror

Five Senegalese commandos missing after suspected drug-smuggling boat sinks

NEWS

FIVE Senegalese marine commandos have been missing since Friday when a suspected drug-trafficking boat was scuppered off the coast of the capital Dakar while it was being searched by the navy, the armed forces said. A Senegalese patrol boat intercepted the vessel, suspected of involvement in the trade in which drug smugglers ship tonnes of cocaine from South America to Europe, using West African countries as transit points. "During the search, the marine commando response team on board noticed that the ship's valves had opened," the armed forces said in a statement. "Everything suggests that this sabotage action, consisting of…

Jan

07

2024

By The African Mirror

Suspected insurgents kill 14 in northeast Nigeria, residents say

NEWS

SUSPECTED insurgents in Nigeria killed 14 people in a rampage that began in a nightclub and proceeded into the surrounding neighbourhood in northeastern Yobe state, residents said, two months after another attack in the state killed 40 people. The Boko Haram and splinter Islamic West Africa Province have waged an insurgency in Nigeria's northeast for more than one decade and continue to carry out sporadic attacks against civilians and the military. Ali Musa, a resident from the Kwari community in Yobe told Reuters by phone that the gunmen arrived around 1:00 a.m. (0000 GMT) at a nightclub and started to shoot sporadically,…

Jan

07

2024

By The African Mirror

US expresses concern after Burundi president says gay people should be stoned

NEWS

THE United States said that it was troubled by comments from Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye, who last week called on citizens of the small African country to stone gay people. The comments escalated a crackdown on sexual minorities in a nation where LGBT people already face social ostracism and jail terms of up to two years if convicted of same-sex offences. "The United States is deeply troubled by President Ndayishimiye's remarks targeting certain vulnerable and marginalized Burundians," U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement. "We call on all of Burundi's leaders to respect the inherent dignity and inalienable rights,…

Jan

07

2024

By ANGE ADIHE KASONGO

Congo’s election commission cancels 82 candidates in disputed December polling

NEWS

CONGO'S election commission said it has cancelled votes cast for 82 of the 101,000 legislative candidates in the disputed December general election over alleged fraud and other issues, amid fresh opposition calls for a re-run of the vote. Those disqualified include contenders for national, provincial and municipal assemblies, the results of which are yet to be published amid the fallout from the December 20 poll that threatens to further destabilise the Democratic Republic of Congo, a top producer of cobalt and Africa's second-largest country. A CENI election committee statement on Friday did not address the presidential vote that also took…

Jan

06

2024

By THANDO HLOPHE and SISIPHO SKWEYIYA

Pistorius release touches a nerve in country scarred by violence against women

NEWS

SOUTH African Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius' release on parole, nearly 11 years after he shot dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, provoked a raw response in a country scarred by violence against women. Pistorius, who has said repeatedly that he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder, spent about eight and a half years in jail as well as seven months under house arrest, but for many that is not enough. An average of around 12 women are murdered in South Africa every day, with more than 42,000 rapes recorded in the year to March 2023, police data show. "Considering that I'm a woman in…

Jan

06

2024

By The African Mirror

Zimbabwe gold mine collapse leaves 11 miners trapped

NEWS

ELEVEN subsistence mine workers are trapped in an underground shaft after a ground collapse at Zimbabwe's Redwing Mine, 270 km (167.77 miles) west of the capital Harare, authorities said. The incident took place on Thursday morning, with initial assessments pointing to earth tremors as the possible cause of the accident, Zimbabwe's mines ministry said in a statement. Metallon Corporation, which owns Redwing Mine, confirmed the incident in a separate statement. The company has deployed a rescue team to bring the trapped miners back to the surface, it added. "The team has made several rescue attempts. However, the ground remains unstable,…