Our website use cookies to improve and personalize your experience and to display advertisements (if any). Our website may also include cookies from third parties like Google Adsense, Google Analytics, and Youtube. By using the website, you consent to the use of cookies.

U.S. to build $537 million consulate in Nigeria’s megacity

U.S. to build $537 million consulate in Nigeria’s megacity

THE United States will build a $537 million consulate in the Nigerian megacity Lagos, the country's commercial capital, as Washington strengthens economic and diplomatic relations with Africa's most populous country. The U.S. is among the largest foreign investors and donors in Nigeria with annual trade between the two countries at over $10 billion, according to the State Department. U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria Mary Leonard said the new consulate, to be built on land reclaimed from the Atlantic Ocean, would take five years to complete. Like most countries, the U.S. has an embassy in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, and a consulate…
Read More
Anti-migrant vigilante group stokes tensions in SA

Anti-migrant vigilante group stokes tensions in SA

SHOPKEEPERS pulled down their metal shutters and foreign staff stayed out of sight as hundreds marched through a Johannesburg neighbourhood demanding that migrants leave and that their jobs go to South Africans. The march through dilapidated Hillbrow, where many African migrants live, was organised by Operation Dudula, a vigilante group whose activities have raised fears of renewed violence against foreigners, a recurring problem. Dudula means "push back" in Zulu. The group, based in the Soweto township just outside Johannesburg, blames high crime rates on undocumented migrants, who it also accuses of taking away jobs from South Africans and driving down…
Read More
Kenya’s court blocks president’s constitutional changes

Kenya’s court blocks president’s constitutional changes

KENYA'S Supreme Court has blocked sweeping constitutional changes proposed by President Uhuru Kenyatta, the court said, declaring the process unconstitutional through a majority ruling. Kenyatta's political opponents said the failed changes were an attempt to widen the presidency's powers and has dominated early campaigning for an election in August. His estranged deputy and presidential candidate William Ruto has charged the changes would have led to an all-powerful presidency, while Kenyatta argued the proposal would promote power sharing among competing ethnic groups. In a majority judgement, the Supreme Court, whose ruling is final, upheld a finding by the lower courts that…
Read More
Ethiopia fails at U.N. to block funding for independent abuse inquiry

Ethiopia fails at U.N. to block funding for independent abuse inquiry

MICHELLE NICHOLS ETHIOPIA failed at the United Nations in its bid to block funding for an independent investigation into abuses in the country's conflict, garnering just 27 yes votes, while 66 countries opposed the move and 39 countries abstained. The vote was in the 193-member U.N. General Assembly's budget committee. The budget committee then voted to approve funding for the inquiry established by the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva in December to collect evidence and identify those responsible for abuses, with a view to future prosecutions. Ethiopia has vowed not to cooperate. Ethiopian diplomat Lemlem Fiseha Minale told the…
Read More
Libya’s Bashagha says he will enter Tripoli peacefully within days

Libya’s Bashagha says he will enter Tripoli peacefully within days

ANGUS MCDOWALL LIBYA'S Fathi Bashagha, who was appointed prime minister by the eastern-based parliament this month, expects to take over government in Tripoli in the coming days without using force, he told Reuters, amid a weeks-long standoff between rival factions. Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah, who was made interim prime minister a year ago in a U.N.-backed process, has refused to cede power to Bashagha after a planned election collapsed in December and remains ensconced in the capital, backed by some armed groups. After the election process fell apart, the parliament said Dbeibah's government had expired and selected Bashagha to head a new…
Read More
Fast internet brings tech jobs to Nairobi’s poor neighbourhoods

Fast internet brings tech jobs to Nairobi’s poor neighbourhoods

MONICA NJERI DANIEL NZOMA'S face glows in the light of a computer screen as he reviews computer codes used for driverless cars and crop disease detection, an unusual job in Nairobi's crowded Pipeline neighbourhood. Nzoma's job, which includes "geotagging", needs reliable and fast internet connectivity that used not to be available in Pipeline. But start-up company Poa Internet is aiming to provide fast, cheap internet to low-income Kenyan neighbourhoods, such as Pipeline. "The geotagging really requires high internet speed for you to be accurate," said Nzoma, as hawkers and horns blared outside his home. Companies often outsource work that underpins…
Read More
Democratic Republic of Congo’s parliament votes out economy minister

Democratic Republic of Congo’s parliament votes out economy minister

DEMOCRATIC Republic of Congo's parliament voted to remove Economy Minister Jean-Marie Kalumba from his post, blaming him for the soaring price of basic goods and mismanagement of the fishing industry, among other issues. The minister has 48 hours to present his resignation following the vote of no confidence. He was nominated to the post last year by President Felix Tshisekedi. The motion signed by lawmakers laid out a raft of complaints including a lack of a policy to support local fishermen and frequent gas shortages driving up transport prices. Kalumba could not immediately be reached for comment. Congo's former prime…
Read More
Seven bodies recovered, a dozen missing after boat capsizes in Nigeria

Seven bodies recovered, a dozen missing after boat capsizes in Nigeria

AT least seven bodies were recovered and about a dozen people were missing after a boat carrying mostly women and children capsized in north-central Nigeria, residents said. Two residents in Guni village in Niger state said the passengers on the boat were trying to escape from gunmen who had attacked their village in the Munya local government area. Gangs known locally as bandits have been terrorising areas of northern Nigeria in recent years, forcing thousands to flee and perpetrating mass kidnappings for ransom. Guni resident Kabiru Musa told Reuters by phone that his wife and 7-year-old child were among more…
Read More
Rwanda raises pump prices of petrol, diesel on Ukraine war supply concerns

Rwanda raises pump prices of petrol, diesel on Ukraine war supply concerns

THE prices of petrol and diesel at the pump were increased in Rwanda, the utility regulator said, amid instability in the global oil market caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February. Rwanda has stabilised fuel pump prices since May 2021 by foregoing some taxes on petroleum products in a bid to dampen inflation. But on Monday the landlocked country hiked the price of petrol 8.2% to 1,359 Rwandan francs ($1.32) per litre and diesel 13.9% to 1,368 Rwandan francs ($1.33) per litre for the next two months, said Deo Muvunyi, head of the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority. "We had…
Read More