Africa

Government in Ivory Coast said it had resumed political dialogues, interrupted after the sudden death of former Prime Minister Hamed Bakayoko, with opposition parties. Prime Minister Patrick Achi, who was leading the talks, said it was aimed at strengthening democracy and unity in the country. The local elections scheduled for …

Former Franco-Rwandan driver Claude Muhayimana has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for his role in the massacres of Tutsis during the Rwandan genocide in 1994. He was found guilty of complicity in genocide and crimes against humanity by a French court which condemned him. Mr Muhayimana who denied …

The European Union has called an urgent session of the UN Human Rights Council to investigate human rights violations and further atrocities in the Ethiopian Tigray region. The Friday session, which was requested by the European Union, will decide whether to appoint an international team to investigate violations that human …

Government in the Democratic Republic of Congo has declared over, the ebola outbreak detected earlier in the eastern part of the country, in which six people out of 11 infected have died. Health Minister Jean-Jacques Mbungani made the declaration after 42 days without any new infections. Only five days after …

A statement from the Malawian health ministry said all health workers and journalists should be vaccinated against covid-19 from January, as the government tries to boost its vaccination campaign amid a spike in cases. Official statistics show that about 641,000 people are fully vaccinated in Malawi. This amounts to just …

Zimbabwe has been hit by a huge exodus of health professionals amid the Covid-19 pandemic, with more than 2,200 leaving to take jobs in the US, UK, Australia and neighbouring states, according to the government’s Health Service Board, the BBC reports. This is more than double the number of doctors, …

The Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) has confirmed an influenza virus outbreak in the country after a series of tests carried out on dozens of patients. Doctors had noted an influx of patients with flu-like symptoms and the medical institute said that out of 36 samples, four had tested positive …

Nigerian lawmakers have rejected a bill introduced by South-east Ekiti State Senator, Biodun Olujimi aimed at empowering women and promoting gender equality. The senator was forced to withdraw the bill after her male colleagues opposed “socio-cultural and Islamic concerns”. “Of course everyone is afraid to empower women … for cultural …

Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo announced in a national speech on December 15 that the country was closing its land borders to prevent a fourth wave of covid-19 infections and to curb the spread of the virus. The president said his government was “monitoring the level of threat of the disease …

The Ethiopian government has accused the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNHRC), Unesco and the World Health Organization (WHO) of ignoring the destruction in the northern regions of the country, recently taken over by the army and the forces allied with the rebels of Tigray, reports the BBC. The …