The implementation of a mammoth African free trade agreement will not begin on July 1 as planned due to disruptions caused by the coronavirus outbreak, a senior official said on Tuesday. “It is obviously not possible to commence trade as we had intended on 1 July under the current circumstances,” Wamkele Mene, Secretary-General of the […]
The International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday its executive board approved $3.4 billion in emergency financial assistance for Nigeria to support the oil exporter’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. The global lender said it remained closely engaged with Nigerian authorities and was ready to provide policy advice and further support as needed. The outbreak and […]
Nigerian singer, Adekunle Kosoko, popularly known as Adekunle Gold has advised his fans that they need to continue social distancing from a certain category of people after the pandemic. He gave the category of the people as “people who drain energy”. He made this known via his official Twitter page on Tuesday, 28th April. He […]
More than 300 cases of people infected with Covid-19 were detected in three prisons in Morocco, after a screening campaign conducted in the 73 prisons of the kingdom, prison authorities said Tuesday. Out of 1,736 people subjected to screening tests in prisons, 313 cases of contamination have been recorded so far. In the prison of […]
Lesotho’s Senate on Tuesday further increased pressure on Prime Minister Thomas Thabane to resign by limiting his power to dissolve parliament and order new elections. The small kingdom has been going through a serious political crisis since Mr. Thabane was implicated earlier this year in the murder of his ex-wife three years ago. His own […]
An Ivorian court on Tuesday sentenced former Prime Minister Guillaume Soro, who has been living in exile since December 2019, to 20 years in prison for corruption. This ruling is likely to end Soro’s political ambition with seven months to go before the presidential election, for which he has assured to remain a candidate. He […]
Displaced Malians were forced to flee as a fire tore through their makeshift camp in the capital Bamako, destroying tents and reducing the land to ashes. Nobody was reported killed in the fire, Security Minister Salif Traore told KnowAfrica. The Faladie camp — little more than a collection of huts resting on a landfill — […]
Chad on Tuesday abolished the death penalty for terrorist acts, quashing an exception that was on the books for four years, Justice Minister Djimet Arabi told KnowAfrika. The Sahel country passed legislation in 2016 to abolish capital punishment, but made an exception for perpetrators of terrorism. Arabi, who proposed the amendment, said the vote was […]
South Africans did not mark a national freedom day celebration on Monday. Rather, people were tested for signs of COVID-19 in the densely populated Alexandra township under lockdown. April 27, was a day to commemorate the first post-apartheid elections in 1994. ‘‘The community of Alexandra are very vulnerable because they stay on top to each […]
Al Ahly’s players will not take pay cuts in the next four months despite the suspension of all competitions on the back of the coronavirus spread, the Egyptian giants announced on Tuesday. A number of Egyptian Premier League clubs have slashed their players’ wages, including Arab Contractors and Ittihad of Alexandria amid calls for an […]
The United States said on Monday it had killed two civilians and injured three in an air strike in Somalia early last year, in a rare acknowledgement of civilian casualties from U.S. Africa Command military operations in the Horn of Africa country. The deaths were mentioned in a debut quarterly assessment report by AFRICOM on […]
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Tuesday ordered the renewal for three months of a long-running state of emergency, citing health as well as security concerns. Egypt has been under a state of emergency since April 2017, when twin church bombings claimed by an Islamic State (ISIS) group affiliate killed dozens of people. The new […]
Socialite Zari Hassan has hit back at her ex-boyfriend bongo musician Diamond Platnumz after he pledged to pay three months’ rent for 500 Tanzanian households who have been affected by the stringent measures put in place to fight Covid-19. The mother of five, on her Instastories, said there is no need of pleasuring others while […]
The total confinement of Gabon’s capital, Libreville, and three bordering communes, put in place two weeks ago to limit the spread of the new coronavirus, will be relaxed, the Prime Minister announced on Monday. This small central African country officially has only 176 cases of Covid-19 positive patients, including three deaths, for some 2 million […]
Algeria on Monday extended until 14 May the containment measures to curb the spread of the new coronavirus, after authorising the reopening of some businesses during the Ramadan period. Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad has “renewed for an additional period of 15 days, namely from 30 April to 14 May, the current containment measures as well […]
A US-based Kenyan scientist has unveiled the world’s first antiretroviral (ARV) drug to be taken once-a-year. Prof Benson Edagwa and his colleagues at the University of Nebraska Medical Center modified an existing ARV drug – cabotegravir – to enable the body to absorb and release it slowly from tissues over 12 months. “This occurs for […]
An opposition member of parliament was reportedly tortured after security forces arrested him for distributing food to constituents on April 19, 2020, Human Rights Watch said today. Uganda should urgently investigate the claims by witnesses that Francis Zaake was tortured and hold those responsible to account. On March 30, President Yoweri Museveni directed the police […]
South African Football Association (Safa) president Danny Jordaan says the coronavirus pandemic is “a moving target” that will continue to create uncertainty around the immediate future of the game in the country. Jordaan said the government’s lockdown levels will be a crucial factor in deciding when the matches will resume in the country. “South Africa […]
Several hundred Burkinabè traders demonstrated Monday in Ouagadougou to demand the reopening of all the markets, which were closed at the end of March to combat the spread of the coronavirus, a source said. “We want the markets to reopen so we can resume our activities and provide for our needs,” said Soumaila Tiendrebeogo, a […]
An allegation that a Rwandan police commander sexually assaulted a child refugee has rocked an EU-funded scheme, under which hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers have been evacuated from detention centres in Libya. The allegation was made by a 16-year-old Eritrean boy, who had returned to Gashora transit centre, south of Kigali, after a coronavirus-related […]