South Africa’s first consignment of Covid-19 vaccines will arrive in the country on Monday, from the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer. One-million doses of the long-awaited Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine will be rolled out to frontline health workers, as part of government’s phased approach to distributing vaccines. The consignment will arrive at OR…
Al Shabaab militants kill 5, including retired army general in hotel blast. As the smoke rises from the site of the blast, Mogadishu was once more rocked by fighters of the Al Qaeda linked Islamist group al Shabaab. On Sunday afternoon, as armed militants neared a checkpoint on the road leading to the international airport,…
At least 30 people were kidnapped and a dozen others killed in a series of attacks in northwest Nigeria, witnesses said Thursday, hours after the president had replaced his military commanders. President Muhammadu Buhari has been under increasing pressure as his military struggles to resolve Nigeria’s security problems. The country is battling a decade-long- insurgency…
After a slow start, Africa has shifted up a gear in Covid-19 vaccine procurement, securing hundreds of millions of jabs from pooling initiatives amid efforts to gain ground in the global inoculation race. So far only a small handful of African countries have started immunising their populations against Covid-19, starting with the Seychelles and more…
Tunis The Tunisian president’s chief of staff has been hospitalised after handling a suspicious letter addressed to the Head of State, Kais Saied, his office said Thursday, suggesting an attempted poisoning. Nadia Akacha had opened the envelope addressed to Saied but found it empty and later suffered from short-term vision loss and headaches, and was…
The United States urged Turkey, Russia and the United Arab Emirates to immediately halt their military intervention in Libya and withdraw military personnel, Al Jazeera reported on Friday. According to a United Nations-backed truce signed in October, foreign fighters had to quit the country within three months. That deadline expired on Saturday. Acting U.S. ambassador Richard Mills called…
The poorest countries are missing out on adequate doses of vaccines – and the health implications should concern us all. Nine months ago world leaders were queueing up to declare any Covid-19 vaccine a global public good. Today we are witness to a vaccine apartheid that is only serving the interests of powerful and profitable…
The South African military has amended its dress policy to allow Muslim women to wear headscarves as part of their uniform, an army spokesperson said on Thursday. In January last year, a military court dropped charges against an officer who had been indicted for wearing a hijab under her military beret. Major Fatima Isaacs had…
Thousands of Central Africans are seeking refuge in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In Ndu, the far North of the DRC, 30,000 refugees from Bangassou live in precarious conditions after rebel attacks. “I only fled with my children. I took my children and my little sisters. And I ran away, I got on the canoe…
DR Congo lawmakers on Wednesday approved a motion to force out Prime Minister Sylvestre Ilunga Ilunkamba, handing President Felix Tshisekedi a key victory in his bid to sideline allies of his predecessor. The National Assembly approved a motion of censure against Ilunga Ilunkamba and his government by 367 votes to seven. Under the Democratic Republic of Congo‘s…