AFRICA

Used as cannon fodder by Russia Wagner mercenaries COVER STORY | AGENCIES | Hundreds wailed as the body of a 33-year-old Tanzanian man, Nemes Tarimo, who was killed fighting in Ukraine as part of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s `Shadow Army’; the Wagner Group mercenaries, was on Jan. 24 returned home for …

Nairobi, Kenya | Xinhua | Kenyan Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua said on Monday that the government is ramping up efforts to contain the rising new HIV infections among adolescents and young adults. Gachagua, who received Joint United Nations Program on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) Executive Director Winnie Byanyima in the Kenyan …

Yaounde, Cameroon | Xinhua | Cameroon’s security forces on Monday arrested a media mogul in connection with the murder of a prominent journalist, Martinez Zogo, according to authorities. Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga, who owns Group Anecdote, a private media enterprise, was arrested at 5:30 a.m. local time. “It is a legal procedure …

Why we need to remove Western lenses when analysing politics in Africa THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | During the USA-Africa summit in December last year, President Paul Biya of Cameroon was videotaped in a highly compromising situation. Old and senile at almost 90, he entered the conference hall unaware of …

Kinshasa, DRC | Xinhua |  The government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Monday condemned the attack on a helicopter of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) on the outskirts of the city of Goma, the capital of the eastern North Kivu province. …

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | Xinhua | About 22.6 million people in Ethiopia are food insecure due to a combination of drought, conflict and increase in food prices, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) has warned. The UNOCHA said in its latest situation update issued late Thursday that …

Cairo, Egypt | Xinhua | Fomer Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail died on Saturday at the age of 67, Egypt’s official news agency MENA reported. Ismail had a disease in the digestive system, according to earlier official media reports. Ismail served as the country’s prime minister between 2015 and 2018. He was …

Tanzania’s rapidly growing ‘Bongo’ film industry is going full steam ahead, with British actor Idris Elba planning a major film studio in the country Dar es Salaam, Tanzania | BIRD AGENCY |  British actor Idris Elba plans to open a major film studio in Tanzania after holding initial talks with …

Nairobi, Kenya | Xinhua | Sub-Saharan African countries should come up with targeted interventions like enhanced surveillance, timely diagnosis, treatment and care in order to tame the rising fatalities linked to cancer, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Saturday during World Cancer Day. Cancer is straining the continent’s public health infrastructure besides …

Harare, Zimbabwe | Xinhua | The Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (ZIMSEC) has nullified the results of nearly 5,000 Ordinary Level candidates for alleged cheating during the 2022 end of year public examinations. State-controlled newspaper the Herald reported Saturday that 4,961 candidates had their results nullified after ZIMSEC established that they had accessed question …