Africa
Earth Day: highlighting different types of pollution
To celebrate Earth Day (22 April), environmental activists gathered at a beach in Cape Town to clean the coastline and raise awareness about plastic pollution. Organiser Lyniel Traut called for a 60% reduction…
Tanzania: opposition party disqualified, leader arrested
Days after its leader Tundu Lissu was arrested and charged with treason, Tanzania’s opposition party CHADEMA has been disqualified from this year’s elections. The electoral commission claims it failed to sign an election…
Gabon: first election since 2023 coup
On 13 April, Gabon will hold its first presidential election since the 2023 coup which ended the Bongo family’s 56-year rule. General Brice Oligui Nguema, who led the coup and became transitional president,…
Sudan: Khartoum after army retakes control
Khartoum, once Sudan’s bustling capital, now lies gutted after months of brutal conflict. The army’s recent victory over the paramilitary RSF is a turning point in a two-year civil war that has claimed…
Gambia: dangers of using taba for sexual pleasure
In the Gambia, many people enjoy taba, a powdered tobacco product, by smoking or snuffing or chewing it. However, it is increasingly being mixed with potent chemicals and used intravaginally by women seeking…
Somalia: president narrowly avoids al-Shabaab bomb
On 18 March Somalia’s president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, narrowly survived a roadside bombing in Mogadishu. The massive explosion killed at least ten people, including several presidential bodyguards and one journalist. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility,…
Tunisia: forty opposition figures put on trial
The trial has begun of forty prominent Tunisian opposition figures accused of conspiring against state security. The proceedings sparked outrage as nine detained defendants were forced to attend remotely, a move decried as…
Sudan: satellite images show use of advanced weaponry in civil war
Satellite images have revealed drone activity at Sudan’s Nyala airport, an RSF stronghold in South Darfur. These developments highlight the continued influx of advanced weaponry fuelling Sudan’s brutal conflict. The RSF, engaged in…
South Africa: court battle over African penguin’s future
A pivotal high court hearing in March could determine the fate of the critically endangered African penguin. Conservationists have filed a legal challenge against the South African government and the commercial pelagic fishing…
Uganda: opposition leader ordered to appear in court
On 11 February a magistrate’s court ordered opposition leader Dr Kizza Besigye to appear and explain his absence in a case where he is accused of inciting violence during 2022 protests against rising…
