NEWS - The African Mirror

Apr

06

2023

Isabelle Sambou, the female wrestler defying gender norms in Senegal

NEWS

MARIA KNODT, BIRD STORY AGENCY IN one of the training rooms at the lower level of the Senegal National Arena in Dakar, four men are warming up. They are waiting for their coach, who will train them in freestyle wrestling techniques. Moments later, 42-year-old Isabelle Sambou walks in. Standing just 152 centimetres (five feet) tall, Isabelle Sambou is a nine-time African Wrestling Championship gold medalist. And in 2015, she was crowned African Wrestler of the Decade by the World Wrestling Association. "She is the best and so humble. We come from far away to learn from her," said Demba Seck,…

Mar

25

2023

By NANDITA BOSE and STEVE HOLLAND

US Vice President Harris to address China’s influence and debt distress in Africa visit

NEWS

VICE President Kamala Harris starts a weeklong trip to Africa this weekend as the United States seeks to pitch itself as a better partner than China, which has invested heavily in the continent over several decades. Harris will discuss China's engagement in technology and economic issues in Africa that concern the United States, as well as China's involvement in debt restructuring, senior U.S. officials said. One of the three countries Harris will visit is Zambia, which was the first African country to default on its sovereign debt during the COVID-19 pandemic, and is working with its creditors, including China, to reach an…

Apr

02

2023

By The African Mirror

Tunisia to cut off public water supplies overnight due to drought

NEWS

TAREK AMARA TUNISIA will cut off water supplies to citizens for seven hours a night in response to the country's worst drought on record, state water distribution company SONEDE said in a statement. The country's agriculture ministry earlier introduced a quota system for potable water and banned its use in agriculture until Sept. 30, as the country battles with a drought that is now in its fourth year. SONEDE said in a statement that the water will be cut off daily from 9 p.m. until 4 a.m., with immediate effect. Mosbah Hlali, its head, said the drought in the country was unprecedented…

Apr

01

2023

By The African Mirror

Kamala Harris announces Tanzania trade boost during Africa tour

NEWS

NUZULACK DAUSEN U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris announced plans to boost trade with and investment in Tanzania during a visit there, part of an African tour aimed at strengthening ties with a continent where China and Russia increasingly hold sway. Harris started her trip on Sunday in Ghana before flying late on Wednesday to Tanzania's commercial capital Dar es Salaam, where she met President Samia Suluhu Hassan on Thursday. The two women gave short statements to the media before going into a longer session of private talks. "Working together, it is our shared goal to increase economic investment in Tanzania…

Apr

01

2023

By The African Mirror

Explainer: Why Lesotho parliament is debating reclaiming land from South Africa

NEWS

CARIEN DU PLESSIS LESOTHO legislators are debating a motion that proposes reclaiming large parts of South African land that Dutch settlers seized from the small mountain kingdom in a series of territorial wars in the 19th century. Even if the motion passes, its economically and militarily more powerful neighbour South Africa - which completely envelops Lesotho - is unlikely to cede the land. To do so would violate an agreement between African countries in the 1960s to respect the borders laid down by colonialists during centuries of exploitation of the continent. WHAT DOES THE MOTION PROPOSE? It suggests that Lesotho…

Mar

25

2023

By The African Mirror

Ethiopia scraps bid to end UN-ordered Tigray abuses probe early

NEWS

EMMA FARGE ETHIOPIA has dropped a draft motion that sought to bring an early end to a U.N.-mandated investigative probe into the Tigray war, diplomats and observers told Reuters, after pressure from Western countries. The International Commission on Ethiopia, the only independent probe into the two-year conflict which pitted Ethiopia's army against forces in the northern Tigray region, has already found reasonable grounds to believe that all parties have committed war crimes. It is now also investigating "serious violations" committed since a November peace deal. The U.S. also determined this week that all sides including the Ethiopian and Eritrean armies…

Mar

24

2023

By The African Mirror

Nigerian senator guilty of human trafficking

NEWS

WILLIAM JAMES A wealthy Nigerian politician and his wife were convicted of trafficking a street trader from Lagos to Britain to illegally harvest his kidney for a transplant for their seriously-ill daughter. Prosecutors said Ike Ekweremadu, 60, and his wife Beatrice, 56, had brought the man to London in February last year with the offer of a few thousand dollars for his organ and the promise of work in Britain. Ekweremadu, an opposition senator in the southern Nigerian state of Enugu and also a former deputy senate president, and his wife were significant figures in Nigerian society with power, influence,…

Mar

25

2023

By The African Mirror

African migrants say racism in Tunisia persists

NEWS

WEEKS after a violent crackdown on migrants in Tunisia that triggered a perilous rush to leave by smuggler boats for Italy, many African nationals are still homeless and jobless and some say they still face racist attacks. Outside the United Nations refugee agency in Tunis, dozens of African migrants stood protesting this week in the temporary camp where they have lived, including with children, since authorities urged landlords to force them from their homes. "We need evacuation. Tunisia is not safe. No one has a future here when you have this colour. It is a crime to have this colour," said Josephus…

Mar

30

2023

By The African Mirror

Pirates strike in the Gulf of Guinea

NEWS

A Danish-owned vessel that was boarded by pirates in the Gulf of Guinea was spotted about 540 miles further offshore, according to a maritime cooperation centre monitoring security in the area. The Liberian-flagged oil and chemical tanker Monjasa Reformer was boarded by five armed people some 140 miles west of the Republic of Congo's Port Pointe-Noire. All 16 crew sought refuge in a safe room aboard, according to the cooperation centre. Danish marine fuels supplier Monjasa, owner of Monjasa Reformer, said on Tuesday all communications channels with the vessel were down. The company was unable to provide further detail on Wednesday…

Mar

24

2023

By The African Mirror

Female driver overtakes competition at Dakar race

NEWS

NGOUDA DIONE CHEERED on by her family, driver Fatumata Bah raised her arms in triumph after winning an amateur motor drag race in Dakar that saw four men and four women competing for first place. Pairs of drivers in small Peugeot hatchbacks had raced to make the best time on a makeshift 300-metre track at the old airport in the city - part of the capital's first so-called Dakar Grand Prix. "I beat the boys," the 42-year-old former banker said. "Being a woman or a man doesn't mean anything, this is the 21st century - Girl Power!" Inspired by the…