NIGERIA – Nigerian police have arrested eight members of the armed group Boko Haram who were involved in the 2014 abduction of more than 276 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok, an official said. The men “confessed to having participated actively in the kidnapping of the Chibok schoolgirls,” police commissioner Damian Chukwu told journalists on…
JOHANNESBURG – Duduzane Zuma, the son of former South African President Jacob Zuma, has been released on bail after being charged for corruption. The Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court released Duduzane, who appeared in court with his legs shackled, on just under $7,500 bail on Monday. Duduzane has been asked to appear in court on…
MAPUTO – As many as 40 tonnes of heroin could be passing through Mozambique every year, making it the country’s second biggest export, in a trade that is boosted by the use of mobile phone apps, writes Mozambique analyst Joseph Hanlon. Mozambique is now an important stop for heroin traders who are using circuitous routes…
MBABANE – A pro-democracy activist in Swaziland has challenged the king’s decision to change the country’s name. In April, King Mswati III, one of the world’s last-remaining absolute monarchs, unexpectedly announced he was changing the country’s official name to the Kingdom of eSwatini. The activist, Thulani Maseko, argued in papers submitted to the High Court…
JOHANNESBURG – An auction is being held in South Africa for the opportunity to spend a night in Nelson Mandela’s former prison on Robben Island. A charity is taking bids, opening at $250,000 (£330,000), to allow 67 people to stay overnight in the old maximum-security jail, where the former South African anti-apartheid leader spent 18…
JOHANNESBURG – A South African woman is recovering in hospital after being discovered alive in a mortuary fridge. The woman was taken to Carletonville morgue, in Gauteng province, having been declared dead by paramedics following a road accident. Ambulance company Distress Alert said she had shown “no form of life”, South Africa’s TimesLive website reports….
KAMPALA – Millions of people in Uganda now have to pay to use popular social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter as new rules come into force. In late May, the Ugandan parliament passed legislation that introduced a tax on the use of the so-called Over The Top (OTT) social media platforms offering…
KINSHASA – Democratic Republic of Congo’s health ministry says the countdown toward the end of its latest Ebola outbreak has begun, as all people who were in contact with the last confirmed case have passed the 21-day incubation period with no sign of the virus. The ministry announced the milestone on Thursday. The outbreak’s end…
KINSHASA – Dozens of legislators in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have attacked President Joseph Kabila over the trial, opening on Wednesday, of opposition leader Moise Katumbi who intends to contest upcoming elections. Katumbi and six others, including an American national, are to go on trial before the Supreme Court of Justice, his lawyer…
JOHANNESBURG – Pressure has been building on the Nelson Mandela Foundation to withdraw an invitation to former US President Barack Obama who is scheduled to travel to South Africa next month to deliver the NGO’s annual lecture, which this year marks the late anti-apartheid icon’s birth centennial. In an open letter, the Cage Africa advocacy…
