In the news

Southern African Development Community (SADC) troops rescued forty-seven people who had been kidnapped in northern Mozambique by Islamists. There was no confrontation between SADC troops and the Islamic State-linked militants, because the five hostage-takers fled when they realised the presence of the regional force, reports say. Read also: Cambridge to …

A Cambridge University college has announced that later this month it is to hand back a sculpture that was originally seized by British troops from the Kingdom of Benin in present-day Nigeria. The bronze cockerel was one of thousands of artefacts looted during a punitive expedition in 1897. It was …

South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has sacked the state oil corporation boss Bol Ring Mourwel. No reasons were given for the sacking announced in a presidential decree on the state broadcaster on Thursday night. A new boss for the Nile Petroleum Corporation (Nilepet) is yet to be appointed. It is …

Government in Zimbabwe, in a circular, announced that it will bar unvaccinated civil workers from reporting for duty from Monday as part of efforts to fight COVID-19. The Zimbabwean government on Thursday said civilian workers should be fully immunized before returning to work on Monday. “Please note that members who …

The former provisional president of the Republic of Tunisia, Moncef Marzouki reacted on Thursday evening to the withdrawal of his diplomatic passport, decided the same day by Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed. “I am not at all surprised by the measures announced by the coup regime against me,” said Marzouki, in …

The Ugandan government agency in charge of distributing Covid-19 vaccines to government health facilities has told all staff and visitors to present proof they’re fully vaccinated. In a statement, the National Medical Stores said anyone who is not fully vaccinated must show a negative PCR test, taken within the past …

A special unit of the South African army rescued two ministers and a deputy, after they were taken hostage by war veterans demanding reparations for their role in the fight against the apartheid government. The Liberation Struggle War Veterans, from the disbanded ANC military wing, are demanding a one-off payment …

The shooting dead of a schoolgirl by a policeman in one of Cameroon’s English-speaking region has sparked protests and tension in the troubled area. The girl, who was five according to the Reuters news agency, was travelling a car towards a checkpoint in the city of Buea when a policeman …

Navi in Ghana has foiled an attack on a fishing vessel in the Gulf of Guinea, a statement from the Ghanaian armed forces said. It took place about 170km (105 miles) from the Ghanaian coast where pirates in two speedboats attempted to board a tuna fishing boat. The navy patrol …

At least 160 Ugandan police officers will be deployed in conflict-threatened Somalia in December 2021, police said in a statement Thursday. Ugandan police said in a statement that the officers up for deployment ‘‘on October 14 completed a six-month intensive pre-deployment training course in peacekeeping operations of African Union Mission …