Africa

Education ministry in Ethiopia has announced that secondary schools will temporary be closed to allow students to help in harvesting crops for Ethiopians on the war front, state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporation (FBC) has reported. Education Minister Berhanu Nega said the schools would be closed for a week. The ministry shared …

The health authorities of Zimbabwe confirmed the presence of the Omicron coronavirus variant and the country is experiencing a high increase in COVID cases. “We are now in a particularly dangerous period once again, where the fourth wave is slowly visiting us with the identification of the B.1.1.529 or the …

Chadian interim leader Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno has moved up to a higher rank in the military, from a lieutenant general (four stars) to a general (five stars). On Wednesday, the Chadian leader wore five stars on his uniform and beret as he arrived at a venue outside the presidential …

South Sudan’s Vice-President Riek Machar has warned against holding elections before a unified army is formed while President Salva Kiir announced that elections would take place at the end of the transitional period in 2023. In February 2020, president Kiir and the VP formed a unity government to end conflict …

A group of Rwandan activists have called for the cancellation of Congolese musician Koffi Olomidé’s concert scheduled on Saturday in the capital, Kigali. They are evoking the musician’s 2019 conviction by a court in France for statutory rape of one of his former dancers when she was 15, among other …

Five officials working for Nigerian Borno state ministry of works have been kidnapped by armed men on Wednesday as they were en route to inspect a road project near Chibok town. Militants linked to the Islamic State West African Province (Iswap) are suspected to be behind the abduction. Borno state’s …

The African Union and United Nations have jointly condemned travel bans imposed on southern African countries following the discovery of the Omicron variant. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned that the restrictions could lead to “travel apartheid”, describing them as “deeply unfair, punitive and ineffective” in stopping the spread of …

The Cameroonian opposition leader, Maurice Kamto has been arrested on Wednesday by security forces in a hotel in Douala where he was expected to launch his latest book. Mr Kamto, leader of the Movement for the Renaissance of Cameroon (MRC) didn’t attend his book signing at Hotel Vallée des Princes, …

South Africa has seen a sharp rise in coronavirus infections across the country since Monday, as the Omicron variant is wreaking havoc, health officials said. Some 8,500 Covid infections have been registered in the last 24 hours. South Africa was the first country to detect the new variant, Omicron which …

The Chinese embassy in the Democratic Republic of Congo has urged its citizens to leave three provinces in the east of the country in a brief delay. The warning comes after several cases of armed robbery and kidnappings of Chinese nationals in the region’s mines in recent days. The three …