Society

Nigeria’s parliament has declared ritual killings a national emergency. Minority leader Toby Okechukwu blamed the vice on Nollywood films with storylines that feature juju. “Ritual killing had become a predominant theme in most homemade movies which if not checked, our younger generation may begin to view it as an acceptable …

Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia will start teaching the Swahili language after signing an agreement with a Tanzanian university, state media EBC reports, citing the university’s president. The language studies will be facilitated by the University of Dar es Salaam. The move comes days after the African Union adopted Swahili …

Dozens of Cameroonian asylum seekers deported from the United States are abused on their return home, an international pressure group says. Some were arrested, tortured and raped, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said. “Their national identity cards were confiscated and their relatives abused,” it said. The US was failing Cameroonians with …

A soldier and five park rangers have been killed in an attack by suspected Islamist militants in a national park in northern Benin. At least 10 other people have been injured. The ambush on Tuesday afternoon happened during a routine patrol in the W National Park, which straddles the borders …

A Ghanaian journalist and host of Power FM Radio has been sentenced to 14 days in prison for contempt of court, reports the BBC. The journalist Oheneba Boamah Bennie, reportedly issued a series of threats to President Nana Akufo-Addo in a live video on his Facebook page. The journalist alleged …

Tembisa Hospital in the South African province of Gauteng has been temporarily shut down after a deadly shooting, local media reported. Gauteng health authorities said a nurse was shot dead at the hospital by her partner, a policeman, on Wednesday morning. The officer, who had driven to the facility in …

The Spanish company, Maxam, owner of the truck that exploded and killed 13 people last month en route to an internationally-run gold mine in western Ghana violated storage and transport laws and has been fined $6 million, the lands ministry said on Tuesday. The truck, was transporting explosives to the …

A concerned mobile network subscribers group in Ghana has declared Tuesday “No Calls Day” in protest at a government directive to re-register all SIM cards in the country. They argue that the directive is illegal. The group has so far collected more than 7,000 signatures online as part of the …

More than 100 members of the Islamic State West Africa Province (Iswap) jihadist group and their families have surrendered, Nigerian army said. The Nigerian army said on Twitter that jihadists including 22 men, 27 women and 55 children have surrendered over the weekend in the north-east. Local media reports that …

At least 20 people have been killed and several others displaced by Cyclone Batsirai in Madagascar, the head of the United Nations food aid agency in the country said on Monday. Cyclone Batsirai slammed into the Indian Ocean island late on Saturday, knocking down houses and electricity lines along the …