By Rédaction Africanews with AP A Moroccan court sentenced a prominent feminist activist to two and a half years in prison and $5,000 in fines for blasphemy in a case that has alarmed human rights groups and drawn widespread attention. The presiding judge ruled late Wednesday night that Ibtissam Lachgar was guilty of violating part of Morocco’s criminal code that outlaws offending the monarchy or Islam because of messages on a T-shirt she wore in a selfie posted online, her attorney Naïma El Guellaf told The Associated Press. Lachgar was charged with blasphemy and with disseminating the image online. One…
Author: Montage Africa
By Rédaction Africanews with AP As climate change continues to have a devastating impact across Africa, the United Nations warns that global temperatures will remain above average this year. Scientists at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) say this is despite the fact that the cooling La Niña phenomenon may return between September and December. Conditions oscillate between La Niña and its opposite, El Niño, with neutral conditions in between. The WMO says that that after a brief spell of a weak La Niña, neutral conditions have persisted since March. “La Niña is the natural cooling of the tropical equatorial ocean…
By Rédaction Africanews United Nations peacekeeping missions are facing significant financial pressure, as United States budget cuts could limit their ability to protect civilians in countries like South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, a UN peacekeeping spokesperson said on Tuesday. US President Donald Trump last week unilaterally cancelled $4.9 billion in foreign aid already approved by Congress. This includes more than 800 million dollars dedicated to international peacekeeping operations. “Without sufficient resources, we will be doing less with less, with potentially serious implications for peace and security in contexts such as South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of…
By Rédaction Africanews with AP Catholic Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday urged the international community to provide humanitarian aid for the suffering people in war-ravaged Sudan. Speaking at his weekly audience in St Peter’s Square, he also asked for prayers for those affected by Sunday’s devastating landslide in the country’s Darfur region. More than 1,000 people are believed to have died in the Marra Mountains mudslide, one of the deadliest natural disasters in Sudan’s recent history. The tragedy comes amid a devastating civil war that has engulfed the country since April 2023. “Dramatic news is coming out of Sudan, particularly…
In Tanzania, opposition leader Tundu Lissu faces treason charges after calling for electoral reforms and urging civil resistance against what he terms a “rigged process.” Lissu, arrested in April, argues his “crime” is simply demanding free and fair elections. Nevertheless, he insists his opposition is vital for democracy. Lissu’s trial, rooted in speech rather than violence, highlights what he calls “lawfare”—the weaponization of justice to silence dissent. He contends that the government, under President Samia Suluhu Hassan, has perfected the art of repression through legal means, creating a dangerous precedent for opposition across Africa. This case has drawn significant international concern, with…
Di Ghana Refugee Board (GRB) don confam say at least 186 Ivorians bin enta di kontri for di last two weeks. According to di board, di Ivorian nationals say dem bin dey run away from political tension ahead of dia kontri presidential election wey go happun for October 2025. Di president Alassane Ouattara bin announce say im go seek fourth term chance for office afta im don change di constitution for 2016 to remove presidential term limits. Early last month, thousands of pipo bin hit di streets to demonstrate say dem bin comot opposition leaders from di upcoming elections. Dem…
Millions of malnourished children across Africa could be cut off from life-saving food within three months due to global aid cuts, a report released Thursday by Save the Children warned. The report said at least four countries, Nigeria, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan, are on track to run out of ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF), an emergency peanut paste that has saved millions of children over the past three decades. Without it, children suffering from severe acute malnutrition are nine times more likely to die from common infections. In Nigeria, where 3.5 million children under five are severely malnourished, the need…
A first group of seven migrants has arrived in Rwanda as part of a deal to accept deportees from the United States, the Rwandan government said Thursday. “The first group of seven vetted migrants arrived in Rwanda in mid-August… Three of the individuals have expressed a desire to return to their home countries, while four others wish to stay and build lives in Rwanda,” government spokesperson Yolande Makolo told AFP. The authorities offered no information on the nationalities of the seven deportees. Rwanda said on August 5 that it would accept up to 250 migrants from the US, stating that…
The storm currently swirling around the Archbishop of the province of the Niger and the Bishop of Awka Diocese, His Grace,The Most Rev’d Alexander Chibuzo Ibezim,PhD, is a painful reminder of how quickly we forget who our leaders are and what they represent. Allegations of embezzlement have been thrown about, and whispers of EFCC investigations dominate the headlines. Yet, behind the noise, one fact remains: the Archbishop is not just a man—he is the spiritual father of the Anglican Communion, a symbol of faith for millions of believers. To drag his name in the mud so carelessly is to weaken…
By Rédaction Africanews Two days of clashes between government forces and rebel fighters in South Sudan are raising fears for the country’s fragile peace agreement. The Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO) on Thursday accused government forces of launching attacks on their fighters in Western Equatoria and Upper Nile States. A spokesperson for the group said one rebel fighter and two soldiers were killed and a number of others wounded. The SPLA-IO said the attacks were a clear violation of the 2018 peace deal aimed at ending South Sudan’s bloody civil war between the government of President…