In the news

Five girls among dozens of students abducted from a secondary school in the northern Nigerian state of Zamfara have escaped from captivity. Gunmen attacked their school in Kaya-Maradun town on Wednesday and seized more than 70 students, most of them girls and a senior member of staff. Parents of the …

Nelly Mutti has become the country’s first female speaker of parliament, responsible for the orderly conduct of debate as well as disciplining lawmakers. She was unanimously elected by the new group of MPs and will have Attracta Chisanga and Frank Moyo as deputies. On his Facebook account, the new Zambian …

Six illegal miners died after sneaking into the old pits of a gold mine in Burkina Faso. Seven others were injured after police fired tear gas, BBC reports. Police said the miners died from lack of oxygen in the deep pits, but did not say anything about the use of …

About 4,500 people have fallen ill and 12 have died in the south of the Democratic Republic of the Congo following a toxic leak from a diamond mine in neighboring Angola, the environment minister said. Eve Bazaiba, the environment minister said the DR Congo would ask for reparations for the …

The European Union will return millions doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine which have been manufactured in South Africa to African continent. Strive Masiyiwa, the African Union’s special envoy told reporters that all the vaccines being produced in Africa “will stay in Africa and be distributed to Africa”. “This issue …

Groups for protection of the environment have warned of a climate and biodiversity catastrophe if the Democratic Republic of Congo lifts a moratorium on new industrial logging permits, BBC News reports. Last month, the DR Congo government said it planned to end the ban which was imposed 19 years ago. …

Ugandan security forces are holding Dr Lawrence Muganga, a Rwandan descent over allegations of espionage and illegally staying in the country, army spokesperson Brig-Gen Flavia Byekwaso has said. Dr Lawrence Muganga, who is the vice-chancellor of the privately owned Victoria University, was picked up by plain-clothed officers from his office …

In Nigeria, the authorities are very criticized in the aftermath of the kidnapping of 73 students from Kaya high school by armed men. The abduction was the umpteenth targeting schools in a few months. Security has since been stepped up in the village of Kaya and its surroundings to prevent …

At least four people were killed on Wednesday in an attack on National Road 4, which links North Kivu to Ituri, two provinces under siege in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The attack attributed to suspected ADF rebels targeted a convoy secured by the army and MONUSCO. In this incident, …

Kenya police are investigating a case in which three students were tied to a tree as punishment for absenteeism. Two senior teachers were questioned at Thiru Primary School in Laikipia County, central Kenya, about the incident. The incident sparked anger among Kenyans. Local television station NTV says the learners are …