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.

Ok, I Agree
Dec
24
2020
By The African Mirror
Africa needs about $9 billion for COVID-19 vaccines, access is big problem – Afreximbank

Africa needs about $9 billion for COVID-19 vaccines, access is big problem – Afreximbank

NEWS
OMAR MOHAMMED AFRICA needs about $9 billion to finance enough of COVID-19 vaccines to halt the pandemic on the continent, but a bigger problem is accessing that supply amid the global race for doses, an African Export Import Bank official has said. Hippolyte Fofack, Afreximbank chief economist, told Reuters the Cairo-based bank and other development finance institutions are working with the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to obtain vaccines for the novel coronavirus. But African nations cannot compete with wealthier governments that have secured huge supplies of inoculations, he said. "If the supply of COVID-19 vaccines is…
Read More
Dec
24
2020
By The African Mirror
United Nations and African Union peacekeeping mission in Sudan’s Darfur to end

United Nations and African Union peacekeeping mission in Sudan’s Darfur to end

NEWS
MICHELLE NICHOLS  A joint United Nations and African Union peacekeeping mission in Sudan's Darfur region will end on December 31, the U.N. Security Council has decided, more than 13 years after it established the operation. The 15-member Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution that terminates the mandate for the mission, known as UNAMID, at the end of the month and outlines a six-month drawdown of troops with a complete withdrawal by June 30. According to the U.N. website of the peacekeeping mission, there are currently some 4,000 troops, 480 police advisers, 1,631 police, 483 international civilian staff and 945 national…
Read More
Dec
24
2020
By The African Mirror
Zambian police investigate two deaths during opposition protest

Zambian police investigate two deaths during opposition protest

NEWS
ZAMBIAN police launched an investigation into the deaths of two people during a protest against the summoning of opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema for police questioning. Hichilema, head of the United Party for National Development (UPND) party, was ordered to appear at police headquarters in the capital Lusaka for questioning on unspecified issues. A large crowd of supporters, defying police orders, gathered to escort him to the police station and police fired teargas to disperse the gathering. "In the process of dispersing the unruly crowd using tear smoke canisters, two people were reported to have been shot dead in unknown circumstances…
Read More
Dec
24
2020
By The African Mirror
Morocco hosts Israeli envoys, Kushner to flesh out new relations

Morocco hosts Israeli envoys, Kushner to flesh out new relations

NEWS
AHMED ELJECHTIMI ISRAELI envoys have arrived in Morocco to meet the king and flesh out an upgrade of relations that was forged by the White House in a parting foreign policy push by U.S. President Donald Trump. Led by National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat, the Israeli delegation was accompanied by Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and architect of pan-Arab rapprochement with Israel. They took El Al Israel Airlines in the first direct flight by a commercial plane from Tel Aviv to Rabat. Both countries anticipate a surge in tourism aboard such connections, mainly among the hundreds of thousands of Israelis of…
Read More
Dec
24
2020
By The African Mirror
Insider Bazoum emerges as likely winner in Niger’s first democratic transfer of power

Insider Bazoum emerges as likely winner in Niger’s first democratic transfer of power

NEWS
BOUREIMA BALIMA IN a year marked by setbacks for West African democracy, Niger is poised to hold an election on Sunday that will lead to the country's first transition of power between two freely elected presidents. President Mahamadou Issoufou is stepping aside after two five-year terms, in contrast to leaders in Ivory Coast and Guinea who used constitutional changes to extend their tenures to three terms. That represents a milestone for Niger, which has experienced four coups since gaining independence from France in 1960. The practical significance, however, is less clear. Mohamed Bazoum, Issoufou's handpicked successor and the favourite in…
Read More
Dec
23
2020
By The African Mirror
Nigeria advises regions to limit public gatherings amid COVID-19 spike

Nigeria advises regions to limit public gatherings amid COVID-19 spike

NEWS
NIGERIA is advising its sub-regions to limit public gatherings, close bars and nightclubs over the next five weeks amid a spike in new COVID-19 cases, according to the government coronavirus task force. Africa's most populous nation could be on the verge of a second wave of the novel coronavirus with the number of confirmed cases rising within communities over the last few weeks. Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital, Abuja and northern state of Kaduna have emerged as new epicenters with over 70% of confirmed cases, said Boss Mustapha, chairman of the presidential task force for COVID-19, who is the country's most…
Read More
Dec
23
2020
By The African Mirror
U.S. reinstates Sudan’s sovereign immunity, authorizes funds to help pay debt

U.S. reinstates Sudan’s sovereign immunity, authorizes funds to help pay debt

NEWS
NAFISA ELTAHIR and HUMEYRA PAMUK THE United States has reinstated Sudan's sovereign immunity, as the U.S. Congress passed legislation formalizing the move, following the ending of Sudan's designation as a state sponsor of terror. However, the legislation includes an exemption allowing lawsuits by the families of victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States already underway in U.S. courts to move forward, although experts say Sudan is unlikely to lose those cases. The state sponsor of terror designation, which was in place for almost three decades, had weighed on Sudan's economy and restricted its ability to receive…
Read More
Dec
23
2020
By The African Mirror
Debt to personal data: Five threats to digital rights in Africa in 2020

Debt to personal data: Five threats to digital rights in Africa in 2020

NEWS
KIM HARRISBERG and NITA BHALLA FROM internet blackouts to contact tracing apps, digital rights across Africa were spotlighted in 2020 as millions of people were forced online to work, study and socialise amid lockdowns to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus. Rights advocates and research groups raised concerns that measures enacted to curb the spread of the virus allowed governments and hackers to start clamping down on other rights, too. Since 2010, internet access has improved in nearly all 54 African countries, according to the Mo Ibrahim Foundation 2020 report on African governance. But with increased access comes greater…
Read More
Dec
23
2020
By The African Mirror
U.N. Security Council talks Western Sahara after Trump policy switch

U.N. Security Council talks Western Sahara after Trump policy switch

NEWS
MICHELLE NICHOLS SENIOR U.N. officials have briefed the U.N. Security Council behind closed doors Western Sahara after U.S. President Donald Trump recognized Morocco's sovereignty over the disputed region in return for the kingdom normalizing ties with Israel. Trump's announcement this month was a departure from longstanding U.S. policy on Western Sahara. The United States had supported a 1991 ceasefire between Morocco and the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, a movement that seeks to establish Western Sahara as an independent state. The ceasefire is monitored by U.N. peacekeepers. The 15-member Security Council was briefed on Monday by U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Africa Bintou…
Read More
Dec
22
2020
By The African Mirror
South African anti-graft watchdog accuses ANC leader of improper conduct

South African anti-graft watchdog accuses ANC leader of improper conduct

NEWS
EMMA RUMNEY  A top official in South Africa's ruling party, Ace Magashule, did not properly oversee a public-private dairy farm project and his actions amounted to maladministration and improper conduct, the country's anti-corruption watchdog, the Public Protector, has found. Prosecutors say that R220-million ($14.81 million) of public money invested in the project to support poor farmers in the central province of Free State was siphoned off, including to accounts linked to the influential Gupta family, which had close links with politicians under former South Africa president Jacob Zuma. The Guptas have previously denied wrongdoing. Magashule, who was premier of Free…
Read More
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin
Instagram
WhatsApp
Threads