AFRICA

Dakar, Senegal | AFP |  Residents of Senegal’s booming capital Dakar are petitioning to transform one of the city’s last blank spaces into a leafy park, hoping to beat back an ever-rising tide of concrete. Seen from above, the coastal city is a sea of monochrome-sand colour, with almost no green …

Lubango, Angola | AFP |  Tehandjila Quessale’s heart sank every time her mother sent her to fetch water for their crops, up in the mountains of Angola’s southern Huila region. The 16-year-old had to leave school early and walk three hours to join a long queue of people at the nearest …

Tripoli, Libya | AFP |  Despite advice from health authorities to shun public gatherings, Moayed al-Missaoui and friends watched an Italian Serie A football match in a buzzing cafe in the Libyan capital Tripoli. While the novel coronavirus has affected more than 100 countries since December, many in Libya believe their …

  Johannesburg. South Africa | THE INDEPENDENT | MTN Group’s president and CEO Rob Shuter will step down in March 2021 at the end of his contract, the company confirmed Wednesday, as it released its financial results  for year ended 31 December 2019. “CEO Rob Shuter will be stepping down from …

  Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP |  The DR Congo confirmed its first coronavirus case in the capital Kinshasa, the third most populous city in Africa, the health ministry said on Tuesday. The patient is a Belgian citizen who has been in the country for several days, Health Minister Eteni …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP |  Four years ago, Bongekile Msibi, already a mother of a now 15-year-old girl, consulted a doctor after trying unsuccessfully to have a second child. She was shocked, shattered and bewildered, she said, when the doctor told her that she could not conceive because she did …

Rome, Italy | AFP |  Italy imposed unprecedented national restrictions on its 60 million people Tuesday to control the deadly coronavirus, as China signalled major progress in its own battle against the global epidemic. The outbreak, combined with a crash in oil prices, has caused carnage on financial markets, erasing billions …

Cairo, Egypt | AFP |  Just when Egypt’s crucial tourism sector was recovering from years of political tumult and jihadist attacks, the industry finds itself bracing for a potential buffeting by the new coronavirus. The guesthouse where Bassam Hamimi works in archaeologically rich southern Egypt usually hosts numerous tourists from China, …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | DR Congo health officials said Monday they were “keeping fingers crossed” to declare a deadly 19-month Ebola epidemic over next month, while monitoring former patients for signs of the virus. While the world’s attention has been focused on the coronavirus, the last patient under …

Kigali, Rwanda | AFP | City authorities in Kigali have banned concerts, rallies and other mass gatherings in the capital as a preventive measure against coronavirus, despite Rwanda recording no confirmed cases of the illness. Coronavirus has only been reported in eight countries on the African continent, according to data from …