East Africa

A 35-year-old woman in Bugweri District in Uganda has spent 15 years bedridden, battling a mysterious disease. Amat Naigaga, who can only speak, but can neither walk nor sit upright on her bed or feed herself, says her sickness started in 2005 when she was in Primary Five. “It started …

The East African Community (EAC) regional bloc has dismissed a post on X, formerly Twitter, which claimed that the bloc’s member countries have launched a common regional currency. The post had been shared on Sunday by a fake X account named “Government of East Africa” which said that the currency …

Nearly 50,000 victims of Ugandan militia commander Dominic Ongwen should get a total of over 52 million euros ($56 million) in compensation, International Criminal Court judges ruled on Wednesday, in a record reparations order. Judges said Ongwen, a former child-soldier who rose through the ranks to become one of the …

Tanzanian presidency has announced the death of former president Ali Hassan Mwinyi, famous with introducing the East African nation to a market economy, at the age of 98. Mwinyi succeeded Tanzania’s first post-independence president, Julius Nyerere, who left office in 1985 after 22 years in power. The presidency said the …

The speaker of Kenya’s parliament has directed the education ministry to investigate allegations that a university in the country has been forcing Muslim students to attend Christian religious services. Daystar University, a private Christian institution on the outskirts of the capital, Nairobi, is also accused of withholding grades of students …

Kenyan Kelvin Kiptum, who died in a traffic accident on February 11, smashed the men’s world record of 2 hours 35 seconds in the Chicago Marathon six months ago. His death plunged an entire continent into an unprecedented distance. The tragedy also claimed the life of his Rwandan coach. On …

Marathon world record holder Kelvin Kiptum, 24, died in a car accident in Kenya while aiming for the Paris Olympics. The world marathon leader at just 24 years of age, his time of 2 hours and 35 seconds set last October was ratified last week by the International Athletics Federation. …

Ugandan authorities have arrested Kenya’s former Assistant Minister for Internal Security Stephen Tarus on allegations of smuggling gold into the country using forged documents. Mr Tarus was arrested last week and arraigned before a Ugandan anti-corruption court on Wednesday for falsification of export documents, the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) said. …

A court in Kenya has said it may release suspected cult leader Paul Nthenge Mackenzie if the state prosecutor fails to charge him within two weeks. Mr Mackenzie has been detained since last April in connection with the deaths of at least 400 people, many of whom starved themselves to …

More than 5.6 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines bought on loan by the Ugandan government have expired, an audit report has said. The vaccines are valued at 28.1bn Ugandan shillings ($7.3m; £5.8m) and were purchased using a World Bank loan. Authorities say the expired vaccines will be withdrawn from health …