January 2020

Villagers in Cameroon’s volatile northwest region are fleeing separatist violence ahead of February 9 local and parliamentary elections to neighboring Nigeria.  The rebels have vowed to stop the elections and are clashing with the military while civilians are caught up in the fighting.

Christians at True Faith Ministries, in the Nigerian border village of Atta, sing for God to protect them.

Pastor Innocent Okoli, 47,  says more than 70 of them are Cameroonians who fled increased violence ahead of February 9 elections.

He says they crossed the border, about 40 kilometers (29 miles) away, in the past two weeks to …

EAST African Community partner states are in the process of harmonising policies and putting in place the requisite institutions to attain a single currency for the region by 2024 as outlined in the EAC Monetary Union Protocol.

EAC Secretary General Ambassador Liberat Mfumukeko said that the Bill for the establishment of the East African Monetary Institute (EAMI) had already been assented to by the Summit of Heads of State, adding that the EAMI would later be transformed into the East African Central Bank that would issue the single currency.

“The establishment of this institute will help to provide impetus towards …

Abuja — The federal government has confirmed that at least 41 people have died of Lassa fever in parts of the country since the beginning of 2020.

The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, disclosed this yesterday during a press briefing at the ministry’s secretariat in Abuja.

Ehanire, who gave an update on the raging outbreak of the disease, revealed that at least two health professionals were among the 41 deaths recorded.

The minister added that there were at least 258 confirmed cases recorded across 19 states in the country.

He urged Nigerians in various parts of the country to …

Warring parties in Libya, as well as foreign governments supporting them, are being urged to investigate deadly airstrikes last July which killed at least 53 migrants and refugees at a detention centre in the northwest of the country.

The appeal was made by the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and the UN human rights office in Geneva, which on Monday published a joint report calling for accountability for the attack targeting the Daman building complex, which houses the detention centre.

“As I have said previously, the Tajoura attack, depending on the precise circumstances, may amount to a war crime,” …

There have been no cases of the novel coronavirus known as “2019-nCoV” identified in South Africa, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases has said. However, an emergency operations centre is in alert mode, and could be activated, should the need arise. The strain was identified in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, after victims developed pneumonia without a clear cause and for which existing vaccines or treatments were not effective. Several African countries have issued warnings to citizens travelling to Asian nations and urged them to take preventative measures.

Response teams to the coronavirus outbreak have been activated in South Africa’s nine …