AFRICA

As Sierra Leone’s president seeks to amend the constitution and extend his presidency, it is time for Africa to pause and reflect By Andrew M. Mwenda The president of Sierra Leone, Ernest Bai Koroma, wants to amend the constitution and remove term limits on the presidency. Koroma is not the …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | A new malaria vaccine will be tested on a large scale in Kenya, Ghana and Malawi, the World Health Organization said Monday, with 360,000 children to be vaccinated between 2018 and 2020. The injectable vaccine RTS,S could provide limited protection against a disease that killed …

Djibouti, Djibouti | AFP |  US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis arrived Sunday for a short visit to Djibouti, a strategic Horn of Africa nation which hosts Washington’s only permanent military base on the continent. Camp Lemonnier, home to some 4,000 US soldiers and contractors, is vital to US military operations …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | Kenya’s Mary Keitany set the fastest time in a women-only marathon as she won a third London Marathon on Sunday in an unofficial 2hrs 17min 01sec. The 35-year-old, who also has three New York Marathon victories, beat Ethiopian track great Tirunesh Dibaba by almost …

Why a Rwanda-inspired bill to broaden ban on polythene bags across East Africa might drag on forever Plastic carrier bags could remain in use for the foreseeable future within the East African Community as debate on the East African Community Polythene Materials Control Bill, 2016 drags on in the East …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | President Robert Mugabe’s grip on power has faced little recent threat from Zimbabwe’s splintered opposition, but efforts to forge a unified alliance in next year’s election could test his supremacy. Any opposition bloc would first have to overcome fierce rivalries within their various camps, and …

African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina has spoken confidently about Africa’s enormous potential, and the bank’s ambitious development agenda, which he said was well underway. He said this, in an impassioned speech, delivered at the Center for Global Development in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, April 19.   The High 5s …

Lagos, Nigeria | AFP |  At least seven football fans were killed and 11 injured when an electric cable fell on a building where they were watching a Europa League match, Nigerian police said Friday. The incident happened in the southern port city of Calabar on Thursday during a quarter-final …

Kigali, Rwanda | AFP |  Former Hutu militia leader Bernard Munyagishari was sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in Kigali Thursday for his role in the 1994 Rwanda genocide. The high court of Kigali judged Munyagishari guilty of “crimes of murder and genocide” but acquitted him of rape. He …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta warned Thursday against violence as election season gets into full swing, with chaotic party primaries already leading to bloody scuffles. East Africa’s largest economy holds a general election on August 8, a decade after disputed poll results fuelled violence that left …