NEWS - The African Mirror

Jan

12

2023

‘Dangerous’ Tunisian droughts threaten food security

NEWS

BY TAREK AMARA and JIHED ABIDELLAOUI THREE years of drought have dried up Tunisian reservoirs, threatening harvests that are critical to the North African country's battered economy and pushing the government to raise tap water prices for homes and businesses. Since September only 110 million cubic meters of rain fell in Tunisia, about a fifth of the normal rate, and officials in the farmers union and the main trade union warned that grain crops will suffer - adding to existing problems of food supply. "The situation is very dangerous because of years of continuous drought," said Hammadi Habib, an Agriculture…

Jan

12

2023

By The African Mirror

Uganda declares itself Ebola-free

NEWS

ELIAS BIRYABAREMA UGANDA declared the end of a nearly four-month Ebola outbreak that it briefly struggled to contain but was then able to swiftly bring under control despite the absence of a proven vaccine against the viral strain in question. "We have successfully controlled the spread of Ebola in Uganda," Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng said during a ceremony to mark the outbreak's end. Aceng said this was Uganda's eighth Ebola outbreak since 2000 when the country recorded its first and most deadly one that killed more than half of the 425 people it infected. The latest outbreak killed 55…

Jan

12

2023

By The African Mirror

DRC beer factory a beacon in region rocked by rebels

NEWS

ERIKAS MWISI KAMBALE BOTTLES of beer zip along a conveyor belt in a Brasimba factory which has weathered two deadly Ebola outbreaks and waves of fighting linked to rebel militias active in the nearby forests. After an initial investment of 125 million euros ($134 million), beer output at the plant in the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo city of Beni more than tripled to 600,000 hectolitres between 2013 and 2021. Brasimba, which has been controlled by France's Castel Group since 1995, further expanded production in Beni last year with a second filling line. Along with warehouse expansion, this should help…

Jan

12

2023

By The African Mirror

Voodoo dances, rituals wow tourists at Benin festival

NEWS

PULCHERIE ADJOHA and SERAPHIN ZOUNYEKPE ON Benin's national voodoo holiday, performers dressed as guardians of the night swirled in costumes resembling technicolour haystacks, delighting worshippers and tourists alike. Over a thousand people gathered in the small Atlantic coast town of Ouidah on Tuesday, once an important port in the slave trade, to watch the elaborate annual rituals of dance and drumming to honour the 500-year-old religion's panoply of gods and spirits. "They come in increasing numbers because voodoo is no longer considered sorcery, it is no longer considered barbarism," said voodoo spiritual leader Daagbo Hounon Houna II, adorned in colourful…

Jan

11

2023

By The African Mirror

Zimbabwe health workers could face jail for striking under new law

NEWS

ZIMBABWE signed a bill into law that outlawed organised protests by healthcare workers who could now face a fine or imprisonment of up to six months. The signing by President Emmerson Mnangagwa comes after health workers were locked in a protracted fight with the government over poor salaries last year. Thousands of nurses and doctors at state-run hospitals in the southern African country went on strike last year demanding a hefty raise and wages in U.S. dollars due to a slide in the local currency and steep inflation that eroded the value of their earnings. An exodus of doctors and nurses has…

Jan

11

2023

By The African Mirror

Uganda court quashes part of law used against government critics

NEWS

A court in Uganda quashed a section of a communications law that has been used to prosecute government critics, journalists and writers, including two who fled to exile in Germany, its judgment said. Under Uganda's Computer Misuse Act, one of the sections proscribes the use of electronic communication to "disturb the peace, quiet or right of privacy of any person with no purpose of legitimate communication". Punishments for offenders can range from steep cash penalties to jail sentences of several years. In a ruling on a petition filed by a rights activist seeking the quashing of that section of the…

Jan

11

2023

By The African Mirror

Gabon names vice-president and new prime minister

NEWS

GABON'S President Ali Bongo appointed the country's first female Prime Minister Rose Christiane Ossouka Raponda to the role of vice-president and named a new PM to replace her, his secretary general said. Ossouka Raponda, 59, was appointed in July 2020 after her predecessor stepped down. She was defence minister before that. She had to navigate a delicate political scene as prime minister after a coup attempt in 2019 while Bongo was on prolonged medical leave following a stroke. Former minister Alain-Claude Bilie By Nze will replace Ossouka Raponda and form a new government, Bongo's secretary general Jean-Yves Teale said in…

Jan

11

2023

By The African Mirror

Sudan factions start talks for final transition deal

NEWS

SUDANESE political parties began talks to try to reach a final deal to form a civilian government and resolve other outstanding issues more than a year after a military coup. Last month, the parties signed an outline deal with the military to launch a new political transition towards elections, but protesters criticised the agreement as unrepresentative, and it left contentious points for further talks. One of those points, the policy for dismantling the administration of Omar al-Bashir after his overthrow in an uprising in 2019, is the first to be tackled in talks this week. The process of dissolving Bashir-era institutions and retrieving funds…

Jan

11

2023

By The African Mirror

Kenyan Airways hit by disruptions

NEWS

KENYA Airways is experiencing flight disruptions due to delays in securing aircraft components required for maintenance, the carrier said. The airline, which is one of Africa's biggest, may be forced to cut some flights if the challenges of getting the parts to persist, Chief Executive Officer Allan Kilavuka said in a statement. "The challenges have been occasioned by the Ukraine war crisis, which has significantly crippled the Russian supply chain crucial to global aviation," he said. He cited titanium from Russia as one of the key raw materials used by the aviation industry and is crucial to the maintenance of planes.…

Jan

09

2023

By The African Mirror

Pardoned Ivorian soldiers arrive home after six months in Malian captivity

NEWS

LOUCOUMANE COULIBALY FORTY-SIX Ivorian soldiers recently pardoned by Mali's junta flew home to Ivory Coast's Abidjan airport after around six months in captivity, state television showed. Their return signals the apparent resolution of a diplomatic standoff between the West African neighbours that also worsened Mali's already tense relations with regional powers. Emerging from the plane, each soldier held a small Ivorian flag and smiled as he shook hands with Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara who was waiting to greet them at the airport. "Now that this crisis is behind us, we can resume normal relations with the brother country of Mali,"…