Africa

Amadou Gon Coulibaly, Ivory Coast’s prime minister and the ruling party’s candidate for an October presidential election, died on Wednesday, President Alassane Ouattara said. The death of Gon Coulibaly, 61, who had had heart surgery in…
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Schools in Kenya will reopen in January and not September as planned earlier, with the number of the coronavirus infections in the country continuing to climb. “The school calendar of this year will be considered lost due to Covid-19,”…
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South Africa's Premier Soccer League, which was suspended on 16 March due to the Covid-19 pandemic, has been given the green light by government to resume subject to the clubs meeting stringent protocols. This follows a statement by…
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Parts of Accra were shaken by a fleeting earth tremor Wednesday night which threw residents into fear and panic. According to the USGS (United States Geological Survey), it recorded a magnitude of 4.0 at 10: 53 pm at Gbawe in Accra.…
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By Reuters Ivory Coast’s octogenarian former President Henri Konan Bedie will run for office again in presidential elections in October, he said in a statement on Saturday. Bedie’s candidacy is the latest twist in a turbulent build-up…
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Evariste Ndayishimiye has been sworn as Burundi's new president, on Thursday, taking the helm of a troubled nation after the sudden death of his predecessor. In his oath, Ndayishimiye pledged to “devote all my force to defending the…
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Tunisian Prime Minister Elyes Fakhfakh announced Sunday that the country has achieved a victory against the novel coronavirus as it has recorded almost no new new cases. Fakhfakh made the statement on a local TV channel, saying…
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South Sudan’s Ambassador to Belgium, Jwokgwen Severio Yukwan, has died, Information Minister Michael Makuei has confirmed. He died in Juba on Monday. Speaking to The EastAfrican on Wednesday on the phone, Mr Makuei said, “Our diplomat…
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‌Tanzania’s football league resumed on Saturday after three months of suspension as the country insists its coronavirus outbreak is under control despite coming under fire for keeping its data secret. Tanzania has officially…
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Ghana’s Health Minister, Kwaku Agyeman Manu has reportedly tested positive for COVID-19. According to Accra-based Citi FM, the Minister is receiving treatment at the University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC) in Accra over the past week.…
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Botswana brought back a strict coronavirus lockdown in its capital city, Gaborone, and surrounding areas after the southern African country recorded 12 new cases of the virus, a senior health official said on Friday. Diamond-rich…
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A light Kenyan police aircraft, ferrying a security team to a meeting, crash-landed in the eastern region of Meru early Saturday. The Police and witnesses said. The police aircraft, which was en-route to Marsabit in northern…
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Burundi's government says President Pierre Nkurunziza has died of a heart attack at age 56. A statement says the president was admitted to a hospital overnight Saturday after not feeling well. He appeared better Sunday but “to very…
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By AFP Madagascar's education minister was sacked on 4 June after announcing a plan to buy sweets for students to take the edge off the "bitter taste" of a herbal tea the president says is a coronavirus remedy. Minister Rijasoa…
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More trying times seem to be ahead of Akinwumi Adesina after the Bureau of Board of Governors of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) approved an independent investigation of the allegations against the embattled President. The…
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By Reuters Equatorial Guinea is “severely affected” by the coronavirus, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Africa head said on Thursday, as its representative in the country was told to leave. The Central African nation of over 1.2…
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Rwanda’s ministry of health on Sunday reported the East African nation’s first death caused by the new coronavirus. The victim was a 65-year-old driver who opted to return home from a neighbouring country, where he resided, after falling…
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By Reuters At least 15 people were killed following an attack on a convoy transporting traders in a town in northern Burkina Faso on Friday, the government said on Saturday. The attack, carried out by an unidentified group of…
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Burundi's first lady has reportedly been airlifted to Kenya after contracting COVID-19, Kenyan media report. Citizen TV reports that Denise Bucumi Nkurunziza arrived in Nairobi on Thursday and was immediately admitted…
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Former finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has thrown her weight behind the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina, as the bank’s board begins fresh probe on him. In a tweet on Friday, Mrs Okonjo-Iweala…
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Namibia's President Hage Geingob has admitted to breaching coronavirus regulations last month by hosting a celebration to mark his party's 60th anniversary and subsequently fining all guests. The South West Africa People's Organisation…
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By Reuters A Rwandan court on Thursday handed a life sentence to a former politician found guilty of orchestrating the killing of tens of thousands of people during the 1994 genocide, a court spokesman said. Ladislas Ntaganzwa, head…
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By Reuters Rwandan genocide suspect Felicien Kabuga told a French court on Wednesday that the international charges against him were lies. Asked if he understood the charges made by an U.N. tribunal, Kabuga told the court through an…
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The Malagasy government will deploy soldiers and doctors to the eastern city of Toamasina, where two people died of COVID-19, following the discovery of several bodies in the streets. About 150 soldiers will be sent to Madagascar’s…
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Burundi's election commission has declared the governing party's candidate, Evariste Ndayishimiye, the winner of the country's presidential election. Ndayishimiye, a retired army general, won 68.72 percent of the votes in last…
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By Reuters Underground production at AngloGold Ashanti’s Mponeng mine in South Africa will remain closed until further notice after 53 employees tested positive for the coronavirus, a provincial health department said in a statement on…
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By Reuters Moeketsi Majoro was sworn in as Lesotho’s new prime minister on Wednesday, a day after his predecessor resigned under pressure over a scandal involving the killing of his wife. Majoro, who was previously finance minister,…
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Ghana has received samples of Madagascar’s highly publicized COVID-19 remedy and preventive herbal mixture; the Ministry of Information has indicated. In a tweet on its page, the country's Info Ministry indicated that testing has begun…
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Tanzanian President John Magufuli has promised not quarantine visitors who come into the country, just as he said he is considering reopening schools as COVID-19 numbers continue to decline. The president made the remarks…
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By Bukola Olasanmi South Sudan’s first vice president, the former rebel leader Riek Machar, has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, his office has said. Machar’s wife, Defence Minister Angelina Teny, and “a number of his office…
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