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.

One dead, at least 25 injured in Comoros protests over president’s re-election

One dead, at least 25 injured in Comoros protests over president’s re-election

ONE person has been killed and at least 25 injured in violent protests that erupted after Comoros President Azali Assoumani's re-election on Sunday, a health official said. Demonstrations erupted on Wednesday, a day after the electoral body declared Assoumani winner, giving him a fourth five-year term. A seven-year-old child was among the wounded, Djabir Ibrahim, head of the emergency department at Moroni's El-Maarouf Hospital, told Reuters. One of the injured was in intensive care with serious chest trauma, he added. Assoumani beat five other candidates in the election. His opponents have said the election was tainted by voter fraud, alleging…
Read More
Violent protests break out in Mozambique after local elections

Violent protests break out in Mozambique after local elections

POLICE suppressed violent protests in Mozambique as opposition supporters took to the streets to decry the results of local elections earlier this month which they say were rigged. Nine civilians and one police officer were injured in protests in the city of Nampula on Friday, a police spokesperson told reporters. Police arrested 70 people, including 60 in Nampula and others in the capital Maputo, Nacala and Quelimane, he said. Mozambique's Public Integrity Center, an independent non-profit entity, said one young man was confirmed dead in Nacala and two people were shot by police in Nampula. One police officer was also…
Read More
Senegal riots: Govt cuts mobile internet access

Senegal riots: Govt cuts mobile internet access

SENEGAL'S government has cut access to mobile internet services in certain areas because of deadly rioting in which "hateful and subversive" messages have been posted online, it said in a statement on Sunday. The West African country has been rocked by three days of violent protests in which 16 people have died, one of its deadliest bouts of civil unrest in decades. Last week, the government limited access to certain messaging platforms, but many people were able to bypass the outage with the use of virtual private networks that mask the location of the user. It extended the outage on Sunday to…
Read More
Senegal riots: Govt cuts mobile access

Senegal riots: Govt cuts mobile access

SENEGAL'S government has cut access to mobile internet services in certain areas because of deadly rioting in which "hateful and subversive" messages have been posted online, it said in a statement on Sunday. The West African country has been rocked by three days of violent protests in which 16 people have died, one of its deadliest bouts of civil unrest in decades. Last week, the government limited access to certain messaging platforms, but many people were able to bypass the outage with the use of virtual private networks that mask the location of the user. It extended the outage on Sunday to…
Read More
Rape trial of Senegalese opposition leader Sonko starts

Rape trial of Senegalese opposition leader Sonko starts

THE rape trial of Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko started in a court in the capital Dakar, following violent protests by supporters who say it is a political plot. Sonko is accused of sexually assaulting and making death threats to a woman who worked in a massage parlour in 2021. He has denied the charges, saying they are a scheme by President Macky Sall to disqualify him from the 2024 presidential election. Sall denies this. Sonko was not in court when the trial started around 1000 GMT. His alleged victim appeared with her lawyers. A judge opened the case before…
Read More
Senegalese opposition rally against President Sall’s possible third-term ambition

Senegalese opposition rally against President Sall’s possible third-term ambition

HUNDREDS of Senegalese opposition supporters and civil society activists gathered at a square in the capital on Friday to protest a potential third-term bid by the West African nation's president, Macky Sall. Senegal has been shaken by violent protests over a host of issues including fears by opposition parties that Sall may seek a third term in office. Sall, 61, came to power in 2012 and won re-election in 2019. Senegal's new constitution, adopted in 2016, limits presidential terms to two five-year mandates. Sall has not confirmed or denied he plans to run. He told the French newspaper L'Express in March that…
Read More
Social media restricted in Ethiopia after church rift turns violent

Social media restricted in Ethiopia after church rift turns violent

ACCESS to social media platforms has been restricted in Ethiopia, Internet watchdog NetBlocks said, following violent protests sparked by a rift within the country's Orthodox Church. The protests broke out in the Oromiya region when three church officials declared themselves archbishops last month and set up their own governing body. Some demonstrators have opposed their move while others have supported it. At least 30 people have been killed in protests since Feb. 4, the church said in a statement on Thursday. The statement called for demonstrations on Sunday, accusing the Ethiopian government of "meddling" in the church's internal affairs after Prime Minister…
Read More
eSwatini crack down on protesters

eSwatini crack down on protesters

LUNGA MASUKU ESWATINI police fired teargas and water cannon at anti-monarchy protesters yesterday, the head of a teachers' union said, while videos on social media showed demonstrators running away as shots rang out in the background. Campaigners organised the latest round of demonstrations after the authorities quashed days of violent protests at the end of June against King Mswati III, Africa's last absolute monarch. In his first remarks on the protests, the king called them "satanic" and said they had taken the country backwards. The king denies critics' accusations of autocratic rule and of using public money in an impoverished…
Read More
South African rand sinks to 3-month low, bonds drop on violent protests

South African rand sinks to 3-month low, bonds drop on violent protests

OLIVIA KUMWENDA-MTAMBO and NQOBILE DLUDLA SOUTH Africa's rand dropped to a three-month low on Tuesday and local and hard currency bonds suffered as violent protests over economic hardship and inequality rippled across the country. Crowds clashed with police and ransacked or set ablaze shopping malls, with dozens of people reported killed as grievances unleashed by the jailing of ex-president Jacob Zuma boiled over into the worst violence in years. The protests rattled financial markets in the continent's most industrialised economy, with the rand dropping as much as 1.8% to 14.67 against the dollar, its lowest level since mid-April. The currency…
Read More
South Africa says vaccine rollout, essential healthcare disrupted by unrest

South Africa says vaccine rollout, essential healthcare disrupted by unrest

SOUTH Africa's health department has said that violent protests had disrupted the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines and essential healthcare services like the collection of chronic medication by tuberculosis, HIV and diabetes patients. The department said in a statement that it was temporarily closing some vaccination sites, adding that anyone with an inoculation scheduled in an area affected by ongoing unrest was advised to defer their vaccination.
Read More