Politics and society

Kenya’s police chief Japhet Koome has resigned, following weeks of violent protests against proposed tax hikes in which at least 40 people died. Human rights groups have accused police of shooting dozens of protestors, some of them fatally, and abducting or arbitrarily arresting hundreds more. The resignation comes a day …

Kenyan President William Ruto on Thursday has sacked his entire cabinet apart from the foreign minister, bowing to pressure from nationwide protests that have created the biggest crisis of his two-year presidency. “I will immediately engage in extensive consultations across different sectors and political formations and other Kenyans, both in …

A Ugandan TikToker has been sentenced to six years in prison, for insulting the country’s President Yoweri Museveni, the first lady and the army chief, local media reported. Edward Awebwa, 24, was charged with hate speech and spreading “misleading and malicious” information against President Yoweri Museveni, First Lady Janet Museveni …

A Tanzanian portrait artist who was convicted last week of cybercrimes has been released from prison after social media users raised more than $2,000 to pay his fine. Mr Shadrack Chaula was ordered by a court to pay the fine or face two years in prison after he admitted recording …

At least 100 people, including students, were kidnapped for ransom last week in Ethiopia’s restive regions that have seen sporadic fighting since the end of the civil war in Tigray, the U.S. ambassador to Addis Ababa said on Monday. “Recent and frequent kidnappings in Oromia and Amhara regions show how …

Authorities in the United States welcomed a two-week humanitarian truce in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the White House said on Thursday, amid fierce fighting between government troops and Rwanda-backed M23 rebels. The truce, beginning at midnight local time on Friday and to extend through July 19, covers areas …

The UN denounced this Wednesday, July 3, reports of “unacceptable” abuses and even torture suffered by Palestinian detainees since the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7 and the war in Gaza, and demanded an investigation. Asked about a recent case where the Israeli army admitted that soldiers tied an …

The Central African Republic’s three million children are the world’s most deprived, with widespread malnutrition, inadequate healthcare access and instability putting the country at high risk of a humanitarian crisis, UNICEF said on Tuesday. Half of the country’s children do not have access to health services, and almost 40% suffer …

More than 240,000 people were evacuated in eastern China after heavy rains fell across a large part of the country, causing the flow of the Yangtze River to swell, the official Xinhua news agency reported. This Tuesday, July 2 afternoon, the rains had ravaged “36 counties and districts of seven …

Brenda Biya, daughter of Cameroonian President Paul Biya, officially announced her coming out on social networks. She now confirms several rumors circulating on social networks concerning her sexual orientation. This coming out is hailed as courageous by NGOs and LGBTQIA+ activists, which could have repercussions on laws penalizing homosexuality in …