East Africa

Tanzania’s President John Magufuli is in the country and working hard in his office, his prime minister has said, scotching rumours about his whereabouts and health. “Tanzanians be calm, your president is there, in good health, he is working,” Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said. There has been speculation that President …

Raila Odinga, the Kenyan opposition leader has been placed under quarantine after returning positive tests for coronavirus on Thursday evening. Mr Odinga was admitted to hospital on Tuesday in the capital, Nairobi, after developing fatigue, according to his family. “He’s responding well to the treatment he is receiving… and remains …

Rwandan President Paul Kagame and his wife Jeannette received their doses of the Covid vaccine on Thursday to serve as an example as people remain skeptical about vaccines. Photos of them being vaccinated at Kigali’s King Faisal hospital have been tweeted by the president’s office: As part of the ongoing …

Tanzania’s justice minister has dismissed concerns about the whereabouts of President John Magufuli, who has not been seen in public for nearly two weeks. Mwigulu Nchemba said Mr Magufuli was not a TV presenter or leader of a jogging club so he didn’t need to post selfies of himself every …

Somalia’s former president, Ali Mahdi Mohamed, died on Wednesday at a hospital in neighbouring Kenya aged 82, BBC News reports. He rose to power in 1991 after the overthrow of President Siad Barre and stayed in office until 2000. He was succeeded by Abdiqasim Salad Hassan. President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo …

Tanzania’s main opposition leader has demanded information on the health of President John Magufuli, a prominent COVID-19 sceptic whose absence from public view has brought speculation he is receiving medical treatment abroad. Rumours have swirled on social media about possible coronavirus contamination, especially in neighbouring Kenya under the hashtag #pray4magufuli. …

Ugandan Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng receives a COVID-19 vaccine injection as the first person in the country’s inoculation campaign. Healthcare workers have received the AstraZeneca jabs as part of a phased rollout. Uganda launched its mass COVID-19 vaccination program on Wednesday, joining a host of countries in Africa to …

On Tuesday, Bobi Wine the Ugandan opposition leader called for peaceful demonstrations to oppose the poll results just days after he withdrew from the Supreme Court his election petition seeking to overturn President Museveni’s victory. “Museveni has betrayed the blood of our people and done worse than the regimes he …

In a statement, Burundian Ministry of Commerce has banned maize grain and flour imports for the next six months starting 8 March. The statement said recently imported maize was found to be “not good” and could affect people’s health but didn’t specify which countries the imports were from. “While this …

A man linked to the violent riots at the US Capitol was on Monday arraigned at a federal court in New York after being deported from Kenya over the weekend, according to media reports. Isaac Sturgeon was seized by FBI officials on arrival at John F. Kennedy International Airport in …