NEWS - The African Mirror

Oct

16

2023

The legal battle for climate justice in Africa is on the rise

NEWS

MORE Africans are turning to the courts, demanding climate justice, and holding governments and corporations accountable. The latest UNEP report reveals a considerable rise in global climate litigation, from 884 cases in 24 jurisdictions in 2017 to over 2000 cases in 65 jurisdictions in 2022. According to Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP, the rate of growth is rapid, with assessments showing “there is seemingly a new case every week,” he explains. While the majority of lawsuits - 1522 cases, representing about 70% of all lawsuits - hailing from the US, the proportion outside the US has climbed from 26%…

Oct

16

2023

By The African Mirror

Burkina Faso and Russia’s Rosatom sign agreement for nuclear power plant

NEWS

BURKINA Faso and Russian state nuclear company Rosatom signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the construction of a nuclear power plant in the landlocked Sahel West African state, Burkina Faso's energy ministry said in a statement. The nuclear power plant will enable the country to meet its energy needs, adding that the agreement was signed by energy and mines minister Simon-Pierre Boussim, and Nikolay Spasskiy, Rosatom's deputy director general. The deal follows a request made by Burkina Faso junta leader Captain Ibrahim Traore to Russian President Vladimir Putin during the Russia-Africa summit in St Petersburg in July. Traore, who seized power…

Oct

15

2023

By The African Mirror

Egypt warns against Israeli call for Gaza residents to move south

NEWS

EGYPT'S foreign ministry warned against calls from the Israeli army for more than 1 million of the Gaza Strip's residents to leave their homes and head south, saying it would have a serious impact on humanitarian conditions in the enclave. Such a move would be a "grave violation" of international humanitarian law and expose the lives of Gaza residents to danger, putting hundreds of thousands of people in areas not fit to accommodate them, the ministry said in a statement. Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Friday that Gallant said Palestinian civilians "who want to save their lives" must heed…

Oct

14

2023

By The African Mirror

Congo-based Islamist group stages deadly ambush in Uganda

NEWS

A rebel group based in Congo and allied to Islamic State killed at least one man and injured another when it ambushed a truck in western Uganda overnight, the army said on Friday, in a relatively rare cross-border attack. The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) started as a Ugandan insurgency but has operated from the jungles of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo for almost three decades. In 2019 the ADF pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, which has since claimed responsibility for a number of the group's bombings and massacres. At around 01:00 (1000 GMT) on Friday, five ADF fighters…

Oct

14

2023

By The African Mirror

South Africa checking if two of its citizens killed in Israel

NEWS

SOUTH Africa's government said that it was checking information from the Israeli embassy that two of its nationals had been killed in attacks by the militant group Hamas and called on Israel to provide Gazans with food and water. The attacks by Hamas inside Israel killed more than 1,300 people, mostly civilians. Israel has since responded with days of retaliatory attacks, pounding densely urbanised Gaza with air strikes and artillery fire and killing over 1,500 Palestinians. "We are currently verifying this," Clayson Monyela, a spokesperson for South Africa's Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), said when asked about a local…

Oct

14

2023

By ANGE ADIHE KASONGO

Eyeing election, Congo president eases some terms of eastern military rule

NEWS

WITH little over two months until a general election, Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi said some conditions of military rule in conflict-hit eastern provinces would be eased, partly to encourage participation in the vote. He stopped short of cancelling the state of siege in North Kivu and Ituri provinces despite pressure to do so from civil society groups and the opposition who say it has done little to contain the many militias destabilising the east since it was imposed in April 2021. In a late-evening televised speech to the nation, the president said a curfew would be lifted and peaceful demonstrations…

Oct

13

2023

By SONIA ROLLEY and FISTON MAHAMBA

Eight UN peacekeepers detained in Congo over sexual abuse claims

NEWS

EIGHT U.N. peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been detained over allegations of sexual abuse, sources told Reuters, as the U.N. said it would investigate unspecified serious misconduct. The U.N. peacekeeping mission in eastern Congo, known as MONUSCO, said in a statement that it had suspended a number of its peacekeepers in response to reports of the misconduct without giving further details. A U.N. source and a Congolese security source said the allegations concerned eight South African peacekeepers in the eastern city of Beni. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss it…

Oct

14

2023

By The African Mirror

Kenyan court throws out challenge aimed at blocking GM crops

NEWS

A Kenyan court threw out a case challenging the importation and cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops, saying the government had taken appropriate measures to regulate their use. In October 2022, Kenya lifted a 10-year ban on GM crops in response to the East African region's worst drought in 40 years. Authorities hoped removing the ban would improve yields of maize (corn), as well as strengthen food security. Kenya has not yet grown or imported any GM crops since lifting the ban. In January, the Law Society of Kenya challenged the decision, saying the government had failed to seek public input. A…

Oct

14

2023

By The African Mirror

Madagascar court orders one-week postponement of presidential election

NEWS

A court in Madagascar ordered a one-week postponement of the island's November election, a move that incumbent president Andry Rajoelina has opposed. The High Constitutional Court said in a statement on its website that it had ordered the first round of the election be moved to Nov. 16 from November 9 and maintained the second round election on December 20. The court gave no reason for the change. Soava Andriamarotafika, spokesperson for the Independent National Electoral Commission, said the postponement gave them more time to prepare for the vote. "This one-week postponement lightens our workload and the pace a little…

Oct

13

2023

By The African Mirror

Wife of Gabon’s deposed leader Ali Bongo jailed, AFP reports

NEWS

The wife of Gabon's deposed leader Ali Bongo has been jailed, the AFP news agency said in a post on social media platform X, citing a lawyer. Gabon army officers seized power on August 30, annulling an election minutes after an announcement that President Ali Bongo had won, which they said was not credible. Bongo, in power since 2009, had succeeded his father Omar Bongo, who ruled for 42 years.