The parliament in the self-declared republic of Somaliland has approved a bill criminalizing rape for the first time, and requiring prison terms for individuals convicted of the crime. The bill, passed Saturday, is the first of its kind in Somaliland criminalizing not only rape but all gender-based violations against women. It lays out a process […]
CAMEROON — Thousands of people are fleeing villages in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon less than a week after President Paul Biya declared war against anglophone separatist groups. Fleeing villagers complain troops are engaging in rape, killings, and harassment, but the military says they are out to defend the population. The number of people traveling […]
(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Amidst protests by the opposition, Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta has been sworn-in for a second term as the President of Kenya. The ceremony which held Tuesday morning took place in the capital, Nairobi but was boycotted by the opposition, led by Ralia Odinga. Odinga, who also boycotted the Presidential election re-run, last month, […]
(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – A train crash in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed 33 people, UN radio station Okapi reports. It happened in Buyofwe in the province Lualaba, in the south of the country. Radio Okapi said that the train caught fire after crashing into a ravine. According to reports, it was carrying flammable […]
(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – An official from the United Nations’ World Food Program has issued a warning about the situation in the southwest of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where conflict has left 3.2 million people severely hungry. In the past year, about 1.4 million residents of Congo’s Kasai region have been displaced by violence that […]
Photo: President Uhuru Kenyatta BALTIMORE, MD (AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Amid tight security, voting is under way in Kenya in a re-run of the recent Presidential election. However, the exercise is being boycotted by the main opposition in line with its leader, Ralia Odinga. Contrary to Odinga who had vowed to disrupt the vote, by calling for […]
BALTIMORE, MD (AFRICAN EXAMINER) – No fewer than 270 reportedly killed Saturday in massive bomb attack in a busy area of Mogadishu, the Somalian capital. Police confirmed that many were wounded when a lorry packed with explosives detonated near the entrance of a hotel. The attack was considered the deadliest terror attack in Somalia since […]
(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Congolese security troops killed at least 36 Burundian refugees and injured more than 100 others during confrontations Friday over plans to return some of the refugees to their home country, officials and local activists said. Soldiers and police opened fire as the refugees tried to free some of their compatriots in Kamanyola, […]
SOUTH SUDAN — “If I’d have refused, my father and brothers would have killed me,” Eliza says. Shifting uncomfortably in her plastic chair, the 17-year-old recoils when remembering her wedding day. In 2012, at the age of 13, Eliza was forced by her father to marry a 35-year-old man from their village in the South […]
(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Kenya’s opposition has accused the government of “state terror” and vowed to overturn a “sham” result. Senior opposition official James Orengo said they would not go to court to achieve this. He urged people to stay calm and out of harm’s way. Mr Orengo alleged that about 100 people had been killed […]
Kenya’s electoral commission has warned the opposition that its claims of victory for its presidential candidate, Raila Odinga, could be deemed illegal. The opposition has published its own figures, putting Mr Odinga ahead of incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta. This contrasts with provisional electronic results giving Mr Kenyatta a clear lead in Tuesday’s poll. Electoral commission […]
Photo caption: Chris Msando (AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The man in charge of Kenya’s computerised voting system has been found dead just days before the 8 August elections. Chris Msando, an electoral commission IT manager, had gone missing on Friday. “There was no doubt he was tortured and murdered,” said the commission’s chairperson, Wafula Chebukati. Tension is […]
Photo caption: Rebel leader Riek Machar (AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Civil society activists say a move to exclude South Sudan rebel leader Riek Machar from a regional peace process will ensure that South Sudan remains engulfed in war. Ministers of the East African bloc IGAD said Monday that Machar will not be invited to the next […]
(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Cameroon’s defense minister says at least 34 people have been declared missing after a military vessel sank off the country’s Atlantic coast. Joseph Beti Assomo said Monday that the military has been deployed to investigate. He says helicopters have rescued three soldiers and will continue the search. Assomo says 37 people were […]
Sudanese doctors and aid workers are urging the government to declare a state of emergency over a cholera outbreak and delay the start of the school year, which began Sunday. The disease, which is passed through contaminated water, has surfaced in five states, including the capital, Khartoum. The U.S. Embassy said last month that fatalities […]
Nearly 50 people have contracted cholera while attending a health conference in Kenya’s capital. The infected delegates were among hundreds who had gathered for the four day forum organised by the Ministry of Health at a Nairobi hotel on Tuesday. They have been isolated in a city hospital, but health officials say the number of […]
(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Thirteen South Sudanese soldiers have gone on trial accused of raping foreign aid workers and murdering their local colleague. The incident in the capital, Juba, last July resulted in a UN report which accused UN peacekeepers of failing in their duty to protect civilians.It happened as rival forces in the civil war […]
(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Fresh trouble appears imminent in the Republic of Cameroon as Southern Cameroon, an English-speaking people on Friday demanded restoration of their sovereignty. They also raised the alarm over alleged planned genocide against their people by citizens of the Republic of Cameroon. Speaking in Abuja at a press conference, representatives of Southern Cameroons, […]
(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila on Tuesday named a new transitional government, state television said, defying opponents who say he is in violation of a previous agreement. Kabila, in power since 2001, struck a deal in December with Congo’s main opposition bloc to allow him to stay on after his […]
The UN has said it has found 13 mass graves in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s central Kasai province since the beginning of March. This brings the number discovered since last August to 23. The UN has been unable to examine the mass graves and cannot say if they were recently dug. It estimates that […]
