NEWS - The African Mirror

Apr

25

2023

Tunisia finds 70 drowned migrants, morgues running out of space

NEWS

COASTGUARDS have pulled the bodies of at least 70 drowned migrants from waters off Tunisia, where morgues are running out of space and authorities are struggling to contain a surge in crossings, officials. Another two boats sank on Monday near the coastal city of Sfax, Faouzi Masmoudi, a judicial official there, told Reuters. "The morgues in Sfax hospitals are suffering from severe pressure because of the high number of corpses of migrants. It's a threat to public health," Masmoudi said. The bodies of at least 70 African migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe had been recovered since Friday,…

Apr

25

2023

By The African Mirror

Britain’s migrant deal unlawful as Rwanda is unsafe, lawyers say

NEWS

MICHAEL HOLDEN and SAM TOBIN BRITAIN'S plan to send migrants to Rwanda is unlawful because the East African country is not a safe country, lawyers for a group of asylum seekers told the Court of Appeal in London on Monday. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's government wants to send thousands of migrants more than 4,000 miles (6,400 km) away to Rwanda as part of a 140 million pound ($174 million) deal agreed upon last year. It regards the plan as central to deterring record numbers of asylum seekers arriving in small boats across the Channel from France, something Sunak has made…

Apr

25

2023

By The African Mirror

Zimbabwe clamps down on ‘backyard brewers’ as fake booze booms

NEWS

NYASHA CHINGONO INSIDE a grimy, poorly lit room in Mbare, one of Zimbabwe's most populous townships, a 45-year-old man sits on a makeshift stool as he pours a brownish liquid into small bottles. An alcoholic stench fills the room. The Mbare resident is one of Zimbabwe's "backyard brewers" who are making fake whiskies, brandy, vodka and other spirits to make ends meet amid fading hopes for economic prosperity. "My life changed when I got into this business," said the brewer, a former heavy machinery mechanic who did not want to be identified by name. "I left the (mechanics) industry because…

Apr

24

2023

By The African Mirror

South Sudan receives about 10,000 refugees fleeing Sudan fighting

NEWS

AROUND 10,000 refugees have entered South Sudan from Sudan in recent days fleeing fighting between the army and paramilitary forces, officials in South Sudan's Renk County said. About 6,500 crossed the border on Saturday and another 3,000 on Sunday, and more were arriving on Monday, county commissioner Kak Padiet told Reuters. The army commander in Renk, Dau Aturjong, said three-quarters of the arrivals are South Sudanese while the rest are Sudanese, Eritrean, Kenyan, Ugandan and Somali. Sudan hosts 800,000 South Sudanese refugees who have fled long-running conflicts there. South Sudan gained its independence from its northern neighbour in 2011. "It…

Apr

23

2023

By ANAIT MIRIDZHANIAN and CARIEN DU PLESSIS

Ukraine activist wants South Africa to ask Putin to attend BRICS summit virtually

NEWS, BRICS NEWS

UKRAINIAN activist Oleksandra Romantsova this week suggested to South African officials that it would be better for Russian President Vladimir Putin to dial into this year's BRICS summit in South Africa rather than attend in person. The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin last month, and South Africa as an ICC member would be required to detain Putin if he attends the 15th BRICS Summit that South Africa will host in August. The BRICS group comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, a bloc seen as a powerful emerging-market alternative to the West. "If Putin…

Apr

23

2023

By The African Mirror

Outer space: Rwanda and Nigeria sign an accord for more responsible exploration – why this matters

NEWS

IN 2020, the United States announced a framework for the private exploitation of space resources. It consists of practical principles to guide exploration, science and commerce in outer space. The Artemis Accords are intended to make space activity responsible, transparent, safe, peaceful and sustainable. Nigeria and Rwanda signed the accords on 14 December 2022, becoming the 22nd and 23rd countries, respectively, and the first African countries to do so. Nigerian space law and policy scholar, Anne Agi, explains why they signed and what the potential impacts could be. Author ANNE URUEGI AGI, Law lecturer, University of Calabar What are the…

Apr

23

2023

By The African Mirror

Kenya police begin exhuming remains from suspected Christian cult graves

NEWS

HUMPHREY MALALO KENYAN police began exhuming remains from more than a dozen suspected graves in the east of the country thought to contain followers of a Christian cult who believed they would go to heaven if they starved themselves to death. On Thursday, homicide detectives marked out patches of earth with sticks and yellow tape in Shakahola forest in Kilifi county, near the location where police rescued 15 members of the Good News International Church last week, according to footage broadcast by Citizen TV. Police began exhuming bodies on Friday, said Charles Kamau, a detective in the nearby town of Malindi, without…

Apr

23

2023

By The African Mirror

Explainer: Sudan’s conflict and what worries neighbours, the U.S. and others

NEWS

A conflict raging in Sudan is rattling neighbouring countries and worrying the United States and others for reasons ranging from concern about shared Nile waters and oil pipelines to the shape of a new government and a new humanitarian crisis in the making. Sudan, which relies heavily on foreign aid, is no stranger to conflict. But this time fighting is tearing apart the capital instead of a remote corner of a nation, which lies in an unstable region bordering the Red Sea, Sahel and Horn of Africa. Five of Sudan's seven neighbours - Ethiopia, Chad, Central African Republic, Libya and South Sudan - have faced political…

Apr

23

2023

By The African Mirror

Gunmen kill five Nigerian police officers in the southeast

NEWS

GUNMEN killed five Nigerian police officers and two civilians during an attack in the southeastern Imo state on, a police spokesperson said, the latest incident in a state riven by gang and separatist violence. Armed groups have attacked police stations and government and electoral offices in states in the southeast, which the government often blames on the banned separatist Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) group. IPOB denies the charges. Imo police state spokesperson Henry Okoye confirmed the death of the officers and civilians but did not give details. Africa's most populous nation, Nigeria, is prone to widespread insecurity, with gun…

Apr

23

2023

By The African Mirror

Smart ID’s are taking Africa by storm

NEWS

CONRAD ONYANGO, BIRD STORY AGENCY GIANT payment processing firm Mastercard has begun a push for public-private partnerships with African governments to leverage its digital ID infrastructure - Community Pass - as digital identities become a key way to include even the most remote communities in a global digital economy. During a recent US Vice President Kamala Harris's visit to Zambia, Mastercard's Division President of Sub-Saharan Africa, Mark Elliott, called for a rethink in national financial inclusion strategies, to close the digital divide. "To date, we have enabled 2.4 million individuals in Africa – mostly smallholder farmers – to participate in…