NEWS - The African Mirror

Mar

28

2021

Gabon’s progressive pro-women laws

NEWS

GABON’S government has proposed new laws to promote gender equality and loosen restrictions on abortion, Prime Minister Rose Christiane Raponda has announced. Parliament is expected to vote during its current session to allow divorce by mutual consent and to eliminate requirements that women obey their husbands and notify them when they open a bank account, Raponda told Reuters in an interview. "The legal changes aim to tackle the issues of violence and discrimination that women face in out society," said Raponda, who became the Central African nation's first female prime minister last year. The U.S. State Department said in 2019…

Mar

28

2021

By The African Mirror

21 gun salute send-off for Magufuli

NEWS

WITH a 21 gun salute, a military fly past and thousands in attendance, Tanzania today buried John Pombe Magufuli, the first president to die in office in 60 years. Magufuli was buried in Chato, his birthplace, in a ceremony that capped a week of activities that included his body was taken to Tanzania’s major towns so that ordinary people could pay their respects. Nicknamed the 'bulldozer' for driving through policies against resistance, Magufuli was reviled by the opposition for what it said were brutal crackdowns on political adversaries. Admirers hailed his aggressive anti-corruption stance, championing infrastructure expansion and push to…

Mar

27

2021

By The African Mirror

Three die, dozens rescued as migrant boat capsizes off Spain’s Tenerife

NEWS

SPAIN's coast guard rescued nearly 40 African migrants from waters off the coast of Tenerife yesterday after their boat capsized during the dangerous crossing to the Canary Islands, which saw a tenfold surge in such traffic last year. Two women and one man were confirmed dead on arrival at the port, an emergency services spokeswoman said, while two women were transferred to hospital with slight injuries. Red Cross workers in masks and goggles carried several young children ashore and helped injured adults to a dockside medical tent at the resort town of Los Cristianos on the island's southern coast. The…

Mar

27

2021

By The African Mirror

Amandebele’s show of force, anger

NEWS

Clad in their colourful traditional wear, members of South Africa’s Amandebele nation descended on a shopping mall in Midrand, Johannesburg in a show of force and affirmation. Amandebele's action followed a national outcry after a manager at the Boulders Shopping Mall attempted to eject activist and author Thando Mahlangu from the centre because he was dressed in traditional Ndebele gear. The center manager was suspended, faces disciplinary action. His action drew the ire of South Africans many of whom took to social media to express their anger. The video of him harassing Mahlangu went viral and has attracted the attention…

Mar

27

2021

By The African Mirror

Eritrea withdraw troops near Ethiopian border

NEWS

ERITREA has agreed to withdraw troops from Ethiopian territory along their common border, Ethiopia's prime minister said on Friday, days after acknowledging that Eritrean forces had entered Ethiopia's Tigray region during an almost five-month war. "Eritrea has agreed to withdraw its forces out of the Ethiopian border," Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said in a statement on Twitter the day after arriving in Eritrea's capital, Asmara, to meet President Isaias Afwerki. The Ethiopian National Defence Force will take over guarding the border area effective immediately, Abiy said. Eritrea's information minister, Yemane Gebremeskel, did not return calls and text messages seeking…

Mar

27

2021

By The African Mirror

Zuma hits back, attacks judges, highest Court

NEWS

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER FORMER South African President Jacob Zuma again launched a scathing attack on the judiciary and the Constitutional Court, the highest court in the land. In a statement issued hours after the Constitutional Court heard a case against him in his absence, Zuma said he had lost faith in the courts. "Ordinarily and if I had faith that a South African court would consider my submissions, I would present them to the Constitutional Court. However, my experience is that many South African judges, including those of the Constitutional Court, can no longer bring an open mind to cases…

Mar

27

2021

By The African Mirror

‘French strike killed civilians’

NEWS

PAUL LORGERIE and TIEMOKO DIALLO LOCAL officials in northern Mali have accused France's army of killing six civilians in an airstrike, but French forces said they had hit Islamist militants. The incident, which occurred on Thursday in the remote Gao region, is the second time this year that France's Operation Barkhane has been accused of killing civilians. The operation comprises more than 5,000 troops fighting militants in Mali and neighbouring countries. Barkhane said the strike had "neutralised" a group of militants 60 kilometres (37 miles) north of In Deliman. "This strike was ordered after a phase of surveillance and identification…

Mar

27

2021

By The African Mirror

Waiting for peace, stability in Darfur

NEWS

KHALID ABDELAZIZ MONTHS after Sudan signed a peace deal with Darfur rebels, and international peacekeepers stopped their patrols, Ihsan Mohamed is still waiting for any sign of peace and stability in her own daily life. If anything, things have got worse, the 37-year-old resident of Darfur's Attash displacement camp said with tears in her eyes. "There is no peace as far as we are concerned. The camp has become a scary place with looting and attacks." The Juba Peace Agreement, signed in October, was hailed in Sudan as a breakthrough in the festering conflict that pitted pro-government militias and troops…

Mar

26

2021

By The African Mirror

‘Men forced to rape family members’

NEWS

MICHELLE NICHOLS MORE than 500 rape cases have been reported to five clinics in Ethiopia's Tigray region, the United Nations said yesterday, warning that due to stigma and a lack of health services the actual numbers were likely to be much higher. "Women say they have been raped by armed actors, they also told stories of gang rape, rape in front of family members and men being forced to rape their own family members under the threat of violence," Wafaa Said, deputy U.N. aid coordinator in Ethiopia, said in a briefing to U.N. member states in New York. She said…

Mar

26

2021

By The African Mirror

Fighting in Moz gas town rages for 2nd day

NEWS

HELICOPTER gunships exchanged fire with suspected Islamist insurgents as fighting raged for a second day around a gas hub town in northern Mozambique, a security source and a diplomat said. The government said security forces were working to restore order in Palma, which is adjacent to gas projects worth $60 billion led by companies including Total after it came under a three-pronged attack on Wednesday. The attack, in a province that has since 2017 been targeted by Islamist insurgents with links to Islamic State, began hours after the French oil major said it would resume work on the project after…