The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is spreading faster than efforts to fight it, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday. Families said many frontline workers in Ituri province, the epicentre of the outbreak, have gone on strike over pay issues, worsening access to healthcare.
Nigerian authorities announced the rescue of 308 people abducted by armed groups, including 163 villagers seized during a deadly attack earlier this year, calling it the country's largest single-day hostage rescue operation.
A rare video filmed on July 21 in Sabha, Libya shows a woman accused of adultery being sentenced to 100 lashes. Shared on social media, it has sparked outrage for various reasons: Some are appalled by the fact that the punishment was carried out in a public space, whilst others are shocked by the ongoing existence of a law on extramarital relationships.
A Russian ship under US sanctions, the Mikhail Britnev, dropped off its cargo of military vehicles at the Port of Lomé in Togo on July 9. It’s the first time that Togo has been a stop for a Russian shipment of weapons to Mali, carried out as part of Moscow’s support for the Malian government.
Several people ended up in the river after an important bridge collapsed on June 3 in the village of Hombo in the eastern part of the DRC. The bridge is one of the failing critical infrastructures in a territory that is home to one of the most lucrative mines in the region.
The Sudanese army struck a traditional court in a Rapid Support Forces-held village in North Darfur with drones on Sunday, killing 35 people, a rights group said. Emergency Lawyers said the attack hit Garra al Zawaya as civilians gathered for local court hearings, wounding several others during the afternoon strike.
Khalida Boufedeche, a trained allergist who represents the Algerian capital Algiers, was elected as the country's first-ever woman parliament speaker Wednesday. Boufedeche is a member of the ruling National Liberation Front's central committee – and now the fourth highest-ranking official in the country.
Ghanaian President John Mahama on Thursday called for an African Union (AU) debate to "formally address the escalating xenophobic attacks" on foreign nationals in South Africa. More than 160,000 foreign nationals have left South Africa and several have died over the past two months amid rising hostility against undocumented migrants.
The UN refugee agency said Tuesday that 144 people were reported dead or missing following "tragic maritime incidents" off the coast of Mauritania last week. Two children who were brought safely ashore from one of the sinking boats had lost all of their families during the journey from Gambia.
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Monday visited Algeria for the first time in four years in a bid to mend diplomatic ties between the two countries after they were frayed by a row over Western Sahara. In 2022, Madrid abandoned its neutrality stance over the disputed territory and backed Morocco’s sovereignty claim, angering Algiers. The thaw began last year, when Algeria reactivated a friendship treaty it had suspended over the dispute.
The Senegalese government on Monday made a U-turn, announcing it would back former president Macky Sall’s candidacy to replace UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres when his term expires. The government had previously declined to throw its weight behind Sall, whom it accuses of deadly political repression while in office, but reversed course after he paid the sitting president a visit in Dakar this weekend.
At least 50 Malian soldiers were killed and dozens more were taken prisoner in an attack by Tuareg separatists and jihadists, local sources told AFP on Sunday.
A Malian army convoy was ambushed by rebels in a remote part of the northern Gao region, the Malian military confirmed Saturday. Regional al Qaeda affiliate JNIM and the separatist Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) claimed responsibility for the attack in separate statements that cited "great human losses".
The World Health Organization on Thursday warned that the Ebola virus is spreading through the Democratic Republic of Congo faster than during any previous outbreak, with more than 2,000 confirmed cases and 796 deaths recorded in just two months. Health officials say the rapid spread, lack of approved vaccine for the virus strain and ongoing conflict in the country are complicating efforts to contain the epidemic.
The World Health Organization launched the first clinical trial on Tuesday to test whether an antiviral drug can prevent infection in people exposed to the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as the outbreak continues to outpace response efforts and spread beyond known chains of transmission.
A report published by Cambridge University features in-depth interviews with dozens of former members of Nigeria’s Boko Haram explaining how the jihadist group has used artificial intelligence to improve its ability to carry out terror attacks since 2023. Experts say they are unlikely to be the only ones.
The true number of Ebola cases in Democratic Republic of Congo is at least double, and possibly four times, the official tally, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday. Official figures hold that the fever has infected nearly 2,000 people since mid-May.
Tuareg separatists from the Azawad Liberation Front and their jihadist allies attacked a convoy of Russian soldiers and Malian troops Thursday as they were en route to reinforce a military camp in the northern town of Anefis.
The number of confirmed deaths in the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has risen to 600, figures published by the UN health agency showed Thursday. The WHO's figures show the worsening haemorrhagic fever outbreak has a case fatality rate of 34 percent.