NEWS - The African Mirror

Sep

22

2023

Rwanda genocide sites declared gets World Heritage Site status

NEWS

WORLD War One cemeteries in Belgium and France, the hills of Rwanda's 1994 genocide and a former torture center in Argentina have been declared UNESCO World Heritage sites as the UN agency ends a moratorium on memorial sites for human suffering. So far, the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial in Japan have been the only memorial sites inscribed on the United Nation's cultural agency's closely watched World Heritage list. At a meeting of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Wednesday, UNESCO member states agreed to add the World War One and…

Sep

22

2023

By BONFACE ORUCHO, BIRD STORY AGENCY

South Sudanese wins the 2023 Global Student Prize

NEWS

NHIAL Deng, a South Sudanese refugee, has secured the 2023 Chegg.org Global Student Prize, a $100,000 award celebrating exceptional students making a difference in learning, among peers, and in society. According to a joint press statement by Chegg.org and The Varkey Foundation, the sponsors of the prize, Deng's story, is "extraordinary." “He empowered over 20,000 refugees in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya through peacebuilding, education, and entrepreneurship programs,” the statement reads. Competing with more than 4,000 students from 122 countries, the 24-year-old is also being recognized for “creating a safe space for young people to heal from their trauma.”…

Sep

22

2023

By The African Mirror

Morocco to spend $11.7 billion on five-year post-quake reconstruction plan

NEWS

MOROCCO plans to spend at least 120 billion dirhams ($11.7 billion) in a post-earthquake reconstruction plan over the next five years, the royal palace said on Wednesday. A 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck on Sept 8, killing more than 2,900 people, mostly in the hard-to-reach villages of the High Atlas mountains. The plan would target 4.2 million people in the worst-hit provinces of Al Haouz, Chichaoua, Taroudant, Marrakech, Ouarzazate and Azizlal, the royal palace said, following a meeting of King Mohammed VI with government and army officials. The plan covers rehousing and the upgrade of infrastructure in a way that is…

Sep

22

2023

By YASSIN KOMBI and GRADEL MUIYSA

Congo army seeks insight into Islamist militants from women held captive

NEWS

At a military intelligence centre in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, 22-year-old Mariam recounted how she lived alongside Islamist insurgents for two years after she was taken by the militants and force-marched to their camp in the rainforest. The group originated as an uprising in Uganda and some members fled across the border into the vast jungles of eastern Congo in the 1990s. Since then they have pledged allegiance to Islamic State and maintained their insurgency, attacking civilian and military targets in both Congo and Uganda. Both countries launched a joint military operation in December 2021, and Uganda deployed over 1,500 troops…

Sep

22

2023

By The African Mirror

Nigerian state declares curfew after election tribunal sacks governor

NEWS

NIGERIA's northern Kano state declared a 24-hour curfew after a tribunal overturned the election of an opposition candidate as governor and declared a member of President Bola Tinubu's party the rightful winner. Police in Kano, which has the highest number of registered voters, said in a statement that violators of the curfew "will be arrested and made to face the full wrath of the law." Ahead of the election tribunal ruling, security forces occupied major roads in the capital of Kano, which shares the same name. Governors wield wide influence in Nigeria, presiding over budgets bigger than some small African…

Sep

22

2023

By The African Mirror

South Africa to host US-Africa trade summit despite Russia spat

NEWS

SOUTH Africa will host a U.S.-Africa trade summit in November despite an earlier call by U.S. lawmakers for the event to be moved over what they said was the country's deepening military relationship with Russia. South Africa's economic hub, Johannesburg, will host the U.S.-sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum from Nov. 2 to 4, U.S. and South African officials said in a joint statement on Wednesday. The meeting will discuss the future of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), Washington's flagship trade programme for the continent, which grants tariff-free access to the U.S. market and is due to…

Sep

22

2023

By ANGE ADIHE KASONGO

Congo president asks UN peacekeepers to start packing up this year

NEWS

DEMOCRATIC Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi has asked his government to fast-track the withdrawal of a United Nations peacekeeping mission to ensure it begins at the end of the year, he said at the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday. The mission, called MONUSCO, took over from an earlier U.N. operation in 2010 to help quell insecurity in the eastern part of the Central African country, where armed groups fight over territory and resources. But its presence has become increasingly unpopular in recent years for what critics say is a failure to protect civilians against militia groups, sparking deadly protests.…

Jul

16

2023

By MARK TREVELYAN

Putin discusses grain deal, awkward BRICS summit with Ramaphosa

NEWS, BRICS NEWS

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin held a phone call with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in which they discussed the Black Sea grain deal, due to expire on Monday, and a summit in South Africa next month, the Kremlin said. Ramaphosa finds himself in an awkward position as host of the BRICS summit because of an arrest warrant issued against Putin in March by the International Criminal Court (ICC), which accused him of the war crime of deporting Ukrainian children to Russia. The warrant means member states of the ICC - of which South Africa is one - are obliged to arrest him if…

Jul

16

2023

By EDWARD MCALLISTER

The meds they bought were toxic. Now Gambian parents seek justice

NEWS

FAMILIES of 20 Gambian children who died after consuming cough syrups made in India will take their government to court this month for allegedly mishandling drug imports – a rare step in one of Africa's poorest countries, where few have the means to challenge authorities. The parents' allegations and testimony, detailed in court documents shared exclusively with Reuters, paint the most comprehensive picture yet of the panic, confusion and heartbreak caused by the drugs in an already stretched medical system. From one mother who unwittingly continued to give her child toxic medicine for two days after he started vomiting, to…

Jul

16

2023

By MARTYN HERMAN

Unseeded Vondrousova stuns Jabeur to win Wimbledon title

NEWS

CZECH Marketa Vondrousova left Tunisia's Ons Jabeur heartbroken once again as she claimed a surprise 6-4 6-4 victory to become the first unseeded player to win the Wimbledon women's singles title. The 24-year-old left-hander, who a year ago needed wrist surgery, proved too steady for the error-strewn Jabeur who ended up as runner-up as she did in 2022. Jabeur, beaten by Elena Rybakina last year and by Iga Swiatek in the 2022 U.S. Open final, was bidding to become the first Arab player to win a Grand Slam title and the first African woman to lift one of the four…