Rescuers are searching for survivors in the wreckage a 22-storey high-rise block that collapsed under construction in Nigeria’s largest city, Lagos. At least five people have died and dozens are missing. As they worked through the night, rescue workers and some locals scoured through a mound of rubble and twisted metal. Four survivors have been…
It was just a “crazy idea” to start with, says Ambroise Wonkam, professor of medical genetics at Cape Town university in South Africa. He is talking about his vision of creating a huge library of genetic information about the population of Africa, outlined in the science journal Nature, earlier this year. The Three Million African Genomes…
Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta has called on leaders of wealthier nations to take into consideration the “special needs and circumstances of Africa.” in the fight against climate change. Addressing the world at COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, he said Kenya has developed a plan to maintain low carbon development trajectory by 2030. He further called…
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, has urged his supporters to use any weapons they have to stop an advance by Tigrayan rebel forces. Mr Abiy said it was the duty of citizens to, “block, destroy and bury” the forces of the TPLF rebels. He issued the appeal on Facebook after the rebels said they’d made further territorial…
Wole Soyinka, Nigeria’s Nobel-winning author, sees his country’s many problems — misgoverning politicians, systemic corruption, violent extremists, and kidnapping bandits — yet he does not despair. At 87, he believes Nigeria’s youth may have the energy and the know-how to get the troubled country back on track. Soyinka credits young Nigerians between 15 and 35…
African governments typically hail the discovery of oil and gas as a blessing, but poor villagers in southern Ivory Coast are among those who say it can also be a curse. On the petroleum-rich coastline of Jacqueville, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Ivory Coast’s economic hub of Abidjan, locals say they have yet to…
Tigrayan rebels announced on Sunday that they have captured the northern Ethiopian town of Kombolcha, making it a rapid advance by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front as federal forces begin a battle to recapture the strategic city of Dessie. The announcement by the TPLF came a day after it claimed control of Dessie, a major…
Lead-acid batteries contain several kilogrammes of lead, a potent neurotoxin that is estimated to affect almost 24 million children in DR Congo. Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo – Crouching outside his home in Kinshasa, Deguache Siwambanaza pulls out a handful of lead sheets from a broken car battery. Nearby, his colleague melts a small chunk…
More than 160 former world leaders and global figures have called on the UK and other rich countries to immediately airlift millions of surplus Covid vaccines to less developed nations. They say it would be unethical for doses to be wasted while thousands are dying with the virus every day. The call comes in a…
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has claimed that most of the country’s problems, including the importing of diseases, stem from foreign wheat aid. “Ethiopia’s problem is wheat aid. With wheat aid comes diseases,” said Mr Abiy. “If we stop it, many of the problems will be solved.” So is Mr Abiy right to associate wheat…