South African police searching for three men who stabbed worshippers at a mosque near Durban have said the attackers’ motive was unknown but “elements of extremism” were involved. One Muslim leader said the mosque was targeted because it was a Shia place of worship that had received previous threats, exposing deep tension between the Shia and Sunni population. The assailants… Read more »
Nairobi, Kenya (CNN)At least 45 people have died after a dam burst in Kenya after weeks of torrential rain, officials said Friday. Forty people remain missing in affected areas, according to Lee Kinyanjui, the governor of Nakuru County. The Kenya Red Cross estimated that up to 500 families have been hit by the disaster, which took place in Solai, near… Read more »
(CNN)Health officials remain hopeful that an experimental Ebola vaccine will help control the outbreak sweeping the Democratic Republic of Congo in central Africa. Since April 4, 45 hemorrhagic fever cases have been reported, including 25 deaths, the health ministry said Thursday. Fourteen of those cases are confirmed to be Ebola virus disease, 10 are suspected and 21 are probable. The WHO… Read more »
Lagos, Nigeria (CNN)Three people including a school principal have been arrested in Nigeria for allegedly tying two students to makeshift crucifixes and flogging them for coming late to school, a police spokesman told CNN. The pupils were being flogged by a teacher in front of their school Wednesday morning in the remote town of Ayetoro, Ogun State, northwest of Lagos…. Read more »
(CNN)Cape Town may have narrowly avoided Day Zero — the date at which the South African coastal metropolis of 4 million people would run completely out of water — but the extreme water crisis it’s facing is far from over. Draconian water restrictions remain on the city’s residents, limiting their water usage to 50 liters a day per person, and if significant winter rains… Read more »
Uganda has launched a major cholera vaccination campaign in an effort to contain an outbreak that has killed 45 people in the country’s overcrowded refugee camps this year. With the rainy season approaching, tens of thousands of people who have fled violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo are being targeted alongside the local population. The five-day exercise marks the first… Read more »
Lagos, Nigeria (CNN)At least 24 people were killed Tuesday in twin bomb blasts in a mosque in northeast Nigeria. The incident occurred in the town of Mubi in Adamawa State at 1 p.m. local time as worshippers gathered for afternoon prayers, police said. A spokesman for the Adamawa State police said the bombers were positioned in different locations around the… Read more »
(CNN)Zimbabwe has just legalized growing marijuana for medicinal and research purposes — and several other African governments are considering tapping into the lucrative natural resource too. More than 10,000 tons of cannabis are produced on the continent each year, according to a UN survey, which advocates believe could be worth billions of dollars in a rapidly expanding global market for legal… Read more »
Soweto, South Africa (CNN)South Africans gathered Saturday to bid farewell to Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, an anti-apartheid icon hailed as the mother of a nation and a political force. Crowds packed Orlando Stadium in Johannesburg’s Soweto township for the funeral following a private service at the home of Madikizela-Mandela, the former wife of the late Nelson Mandela, who served as South Africa’s President… Read more »
The king of Swaziland, Africa’s last absolute monarchy, has announced that his country has changed its name to the Kingdom of eSwatini to mark 50 years since independence from British rule. Meaning “place of the Swazi”, eSwatini is the Swazi language name for the tiny state landlocked between South Africa and Mozambique. Unlike some countries, Swaziland did not change its name when it… Read more »