Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe has said that royalties the state receives from mining could be used to start up the sovereign wealth fund that President Cyril Ramaphosa announced in his State of the Nation Address. The minister was on Wednesday addressing Parliament during debates on the president’s speech. Last week Ramaphosa […]
Uganda was on Friday urged to look into allegations that anti-Rwandan rebels are operating on its territory before the long-shuttered border between the neighbours can be re-opened, during a summit of regional leaders. Rwandan President Paul Kagame and his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni held a fourth round of talks mediated by Angolan President Joao Lourenco […]
A Nigerian court on Friday freed 87 members of a pro-Iranian Shiite group accused of killing a soldier following clashes with troops more than four years ago, their lawyer said. The court in the northern city of Kaduna “discharged and acquitted” the members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN for lack of evidence linking […]
Algeria this weekend marks a year since the birth of an unprecedented protest movement known as “Hirak” – one that quickly forced an ailing president from power and is now looking to maintain momentum. Anti-regime protesters have designated Friday and Saturday a landmark moment, mobilising to “disqualify the system’s agenda of self-renewal, and to lay […]
Lesotho Prime Minister Thomas Thabane, who was due to be charged with the murder of his estranged wife, failed to appear in court on Friday on medical grounds, an aide said. “He is not attending court, he has gone for a medical check up in South Africa,” his personal secretary Thabo Thakalekoala told AFP. Lilopelo […]
Togo’s President Faure Gnassingbe on Thursday insisted he was not a “dictator”, days before an election in which he is aiming to extend his family’s decades-long domination over the West African nation. The incumbent looks set to claim a fourth term in power, as the country of 8 million goes to the polls on Saturday […]
Ethiopia’s government on Thursday assumed custody of a priceless 18th-century crown that a former refugee had kept hidden in his apartment in the Netherlands for two decades. The handover took place at a ceremony in the capital, Addis Ababa, attended by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Sigrid Kaag, the Dutch minister for foreign trade and […]
South Sudan President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar agreed on Thursday to form a unity government, a long-delayed step towards ending more than six years of war. The rivals have overseen a conflict that has left at least 380 000 dead and forced four million from their homes. “We have agreed to form […]
An outbreak of Lassa in Nigeria has killed 103 people this year, health authorities said, as the first confirmed case was reported in the economic hub Lagos. “Cumulatively from week 1 to week 07, 2020, 103 deaths have been reported with a case fatality rate of 17.6%,” said the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC […]
Five hostages taken by an armed group that killed 10 people in eastern Democratic Republic Congo this week have been found dead, a local official said on Wednesday. Five bodies “were discovered in the neighbourhood of the Virunga National Park”, John Kambale Sibendire, a local leader in Malambo district southeast of the city of Beni, […]
Zimbabwe has given an ultimatum to holders of mining licences to pay an annual renewal fee by April, or face losing their licenses, mines Minister Winston Chitando announced on Wednesday. The southern African country is home to vast gold and mineral reserves, including diamonds and platinum. And mining accounts for a large portion of Zimbabwe’s […]
As South Africa celebrates a generation of freedom, Anglo American acknowledges its deep roots in the country and looks ahead to its contribution in the next 25 years and beyond. Over the next five weeks experience 25 Reasons to Believe with City Press as we explore the economy, job creation, enterprise development, health, land reform, […]
Angola’s state-owned oil giant Sonangol has become a majority shareholder in mobile phone operator Unitel, a move that could threaten Isabel dos Santos’ position as head of the telecoms firm. The billionaire daughter of Angola’s former president – charged last week with several financial crimes – is Unitel’s chairman thanks to her 25% holding through […]
Two armed groups who last year joined an agreement aimed at bringing peace to the Central African Republic have clashed in a key northeastern town, the UN said on Thursday. “The deputy special representative of the United Nations secretary general, Denise Brown, has gone to the area” to assess the situation, the spokesperson for the […]
Nigerian soldiers torched more than 20 homes in a community in the oil-rich Niger Delta after “suspected pirates” killed six people, security sources and residents said on Tuesday. Gunmen on Sunday attacked a gunboat escorting a vessel in the volatile waters off the Nigerian coast, a Nigerian security source told AFP. “During the ensuing gun […]
The United Nations on Tuesday welcomed a new EU naval operation to enforce an arms embargo on Libya as the warring sides in the conflict met for military talks in Geneva. EU foreign ministers agreed on Monday to a naval mission that will be authorised to intervene to stop weapons shipments into the North African […]
Rwandan President Paul Kagame was the surprise guest at ceremonies in DRC on Friday to honour deceased opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi hosted by his son Felix, the country’s president. Once the Democratic Republic of Congo’s sworn enemy, Kagame joined Tshisekedi and Angolan President Joao Lourenco for a central African mini-summit ahead of the long-awaited tribute. […]
Twenty people, many of them women and children, were trampled to death on Monday in a stampede for food and money for refugees in southeast Niger, sources said. “We have a provisional toll of 20 dead,” a medical source said. Aid workers confirmed the account and said about 10 people had been injured. The accident […]
A massacre in an anglophone region of Cameroon left up to 22 villagers dead including 14 children, the UN said on Sunday, with an opposition party blaming the killings on the army. Armed men carried out the bloodshed on Friday in the village of Ntumbo in the Northwest region, James Nunan, a local official of […]
Nobel laureate, Paul Krugman, has popularised the term “zombie idea”, which is also a title of his new book – Arguing with Zombies. This term refers to “ideas that keep being killed by evidence, but nonetheless shamble relentlessly forward, essentially because they suit a political agenda”. It is an idea, in essence, that refuses to […]
Zimbabwe industry’s capacity utilisation contracted to 36.4% in 2019 and could fall further if the southern African country’s policy direction does not change drastically. Capacity utilisation measures the level at which a company is operating at, or the level at which it is using its plant and equipment. The manufacturing sector survey of the Confederation […]
Namibia should by rights feel little concern about the coronavirus outbreak given that the sparsely-populated desert country is 12 000km from China and without a single confirmed case. But like many countries on the continent, the southern African nation hosts a big Chinese retail business community with close links to home. And as the fear […]
President Cyril Ramaphosa has had a rough start to his first chairing of the African Union, with delays pushing a meeting into the early hours of Tuesday morning. An official who was in the sitting of the summit told News24 diplomats and heads of state were haggling over the translation of adoptions. Ramaphosa’s diary saw […]
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali has asked President Cyril Ramaphosa to intervene in the dispute between Ethiopia and Egypt about the building of the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. The 2019 Nobel Peace recipient said at a press conference at the end of his three-day official visit to South Africa on Sunday that Ethiopia believed […]
In 2018Abiy Ahmedbecame prime minister ofEthiopia, after protests caused the ruling coalition to reshuffle and remove the governing party from power after nearly 30 years of authoritarian rule. In addition to sweeping political and economic reforms, Abiy released political prisoners and made a peace deal with neighbouringEritrea, ending two decades of hostility. For this he […]