NEWS - The African Mirror

Apr

2024

Burkina Faso suspends BBC, VOA radio broadcasts over killings coverage

BURKINA Faso has suspended the radio broadcasts of BBC Africa and the U.S-funded Voice of America (VOA) for two weeks over their coverage of a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report accusing the army of extrajudicial killings, authorities said late. In the report based on its own investigation, the rights watchdog said the West African country's military summarily executed about 223 villagers, including at least 56 children, in February as part of a campaign against civilians accused of collaborating with jihadist militants. HRW said the Burkinabe army has repeatedly committed mass atrocities against civilians in the name of fighting terrorism, and it called…

Apr

2024

By The African Mirror

Kenya Airways says Congo is harassing airline after its staff detained

NEWS

KENYA Airways accused authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) of harassment over the continued detention of two of the airline's staff for alleged customs violations despite a court ordering their release. A senior Kenyan government official said Kenya had also objected to what he said was their arrest and detention. Officers from Congo's military intelligence detained the pair on April 19 for allegedly failing to complete customs documentation related to valuable cargo that was meant to be transported a week earlier, the airline said in a statement. The airline workers have been granted only one short visit…

Apr

2024

By NGOUDA DIONE and ZOHRA BENSEMRA

I thought I would be next – survivor of migrant sea disaster

NEWS

ADFIFT on the Atlantic Ocean, the migrants from West Africa resorted to drinking seawater to quench their unbearable thirst. Then they started dying one by one. Disposing of the bodies became a daily trial for those still alive on the brightly painted wooden fishing boat. “I thought I would be next, that one morning, I too would be dead and in the sea,” said Birane Mbaye, one of 101 men and boys who set off from a fishing village on a wild stretch of Senegal’s coastline last July hoping to reach Europe. They never made it. Back home in Fass Boye,…

Apr

2024

By CAMILLUS EBOH and OPE ADETAYO

More than 100 inmates escape after rain damages Nigerian prison

NEWS

AT least 118 inmates escaped from prison after heavy rains damaged the facility in Suleja near the Nigerian capital, a prison service spokesperson said. The downpour, which lasted several hours, wrecked parts of the medium-security prison, including the perimeter wall and surrounding buildings, spokesperson Adamu Duza said in a statement on Thursday. Service agents were hunting the fugitives and had so far recaptured 10 of them with the help of other security agencies. "We are in hot chase to recapture the rest," Duza said. He assured the public the authorities were on top of the situation. "The public is further…

Apr

2024

By ABDI SHEIKH

Somalia detains U.S.-trained commandos over theft of rations

NEWS

SOMALIA'S government said it had suspended and detained several members of an elite, U.S.-trained commando unit for stealing rations donated by the United States, adding that it was taking over responsibility for provisioning the force. The Danab unit has been a key pillar of U.S.-backed efforts to combat the al Qaeda-linked militant group al Shabaab. The United States agreed in February to spend more than $100 million to build up to five military bases for Danab. Somalia's defence ministry said in a statement late on Thursday that it had notified international partners of the theft and would share the outcome…

Apr

2024

By The African Mirror

Moroccan man guilty of murdering man in UK in revenge for Gaza

NEWS

A Moroccan man who stabbed to death a passer-by in the street in northeast England in what he later told police was revenge for Israeli action in Gaza was found guilty of murder. Ahmed Alid, 45, who had sought asylum in Britain, killed his 70-year-old victim after approaching him from behind on a road in Hartlepool in the early hours of October 15 last year, having previously attacked his housemate with two knives, prosecutors said. After his arrest, he told detectives he had committed the acts because of the conflict in Gaza, and in revenge for Israel killing innocent children,…

Apr

2024

By The African Mirror

Malawi gets $57.6 mln World Bank grant to address food crisis

NEWS

THE World Bank said that it was providing $57.6 million in "quick release" grant financing to Malawi to help the country respond to a food crisis. "This support comes in the context of the severe food crisis the country is suffering due to El Niño conditions in the wider southern Africa region," the World Bank said in a statement. "A series of intense disaster events over the last few years has left almost no time for the country to recover and has resulted in a severe erosion of food security at the national level."

Apr

2024

By LUCY MIDDLETON

Is Rwanda a safe place to send LGBTQ+ asylum seekers from the UK?

NEWS

LGBTQ+ rights groups are concerned that gay, bisexual, and transgender refugees could face discrimination and abuse if they are sent to Rwanda under Britain's policy to deport asylum seekers to the East African nation. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised to start sending asylum seekers to Rwanda within 10 to 12 weeks as the upper house of parliament finally passed the required legislation, delayed for weeks by attempts to alter the contentious plan. As LGBTQ+ rights groups criticise the plan, Illegal Migration Minister Michael Tomlinson said on Tuesday that "openly gay" asylum seekers would be sent to Rwanda. "It is not unlawful to be…

Apr

2024

By BONFACE ORUCHO, BIRD STORY AGENCY

Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire look to reshape the world’s cocoa industry

NEWS

GHANAIAN cocoa supply chain expert and co-founder, Gazali Halidu, believes a new alliance between Africa's two biggest cocoa producers “holds the potential to transform the cocoa sector.” “It has the potential to address revenue imbalances, support farmer livelihoods, and promote sustainable practices,” Halidu shared in an interview with bird story agency. The alliance between Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana, the world’s top two producers of cocoa, comes as a sharp decline in production volumes and a deterioration of producer prices hits the market. The countries recently commissioned the Cote d’Ivore-Ghana Cocoa Initiative (CGCI) Secretariat building in Accra as the two countries…

Apr

2024

By The African Mirror

Kenyan military deployed as East Africa floods kill dozens

NEWS

KENYA'S military was deployed to rescue victims of heavy rains that have killed dozens of people across East Africa over the past month. At least 45 people have died in the floods in Kenya since March, including 10 since Monday, the Kenya Red Cross said. Large parts of the capital Nairobi and other major towns are underwater, forcing thousands of residents to leave their homes. Collins Obondo, 38, lost at least four relatives in the flooding on Wednesday in Nairobi's densely-populated Mathare neighbourhood, which lies along the Nairobi River. "The body of my mother's neighbour was trapped right across here…