By Rédaction Africanews with AP The flame for the Dakar Youth Olympics was lit in Athens on Thursday for the first Olympic competition ever staged in Africa. International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry, the organisation’s first African and first female leader, said the moment carried profound personal meaning. “As an African, this moment means so much to me,” Coventry, an Olympic swimming champion from Zimbabwe, said, her voice breaking with emotion. “For so many years we have spoken about the day when an Olympic event would finally come to our continent,” she said. “And now we have that great honour.”…
Author: Montage Africa
By Rédaction Africanews with AP Africa’s imports of electric motorcycles and three-wheelers from China rose sharply in the first half of 2026, underscoring a divide in the continent’s transition to electric vehicles. Two- and three-wheelers account for a large share of vehicles on African roads and are heavily used commercially. So, switching to electric from gasoline and diesel engines could cut fuel consumption and urban air pollution. Northern African countries like Morocco, Egypt and Algeria led the 60% surge in the continent’s imports, to $114.6 million. The region has become a major destination for fully built Chinese electric scooters. Investments…
By Rédaction Africanews An additional three dozen health facilities serving more than 400,000 people in Sudan are closing this year due to global aid cuts, worsening a dire humanitarian situation in a country torn by more than three years of war, aid groups said Tuesday. The cuts come to a health care system that once numbered 6,500 primary healthcare facilities and 300 public hospitals, but that already was decimated in the first year and a half of war. By September 2024, the World Health Organization said that up to 70-80% of facilities in the worst-hit areas were either closed or…
By Rédaction Africanews Kenyan President William Ruto’s recent order to close immigrant-owned small businesses sparked panic in the country. But now, as it seeks to backtrack from the concern, Kenya has warned foreign workers they have 90 days to regularise their status. The Kenyan foreign minister has insisted that the new rules were not a blanket ban. Musalia Mudavadi said, “Kenya is not implementing a blanket ban on foreign nationals engaging in small scale business, but is seeking to ensure that their participation is consistent with the East African Community Common Market Protocol and applicable national law.” Ruto’s announcement had…
By Rédaction Africanews A man suspected of killing his wife and two daughters in England appeared in a Johannesburg courthouse on Thursday. Ndodana Mkhanyisi Tshuma is a British citizen of Zimbabwean origin; the rest of his hearing has now been postponed. He has admitted unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition in South Africa. 45 year old Tshuma was arrested back in July in a Johannesburg suburb, in an operation involving South African police and Interpol. A relative living abroad contacted authorities in the UK after not hearing from the family for several days. The bodies of his wife and…
By Rédaction Africanews Campaigning for Morocco’s legislative election opened on Thursday, with the governing coalition seeking to retain power amid discontent over economic and regional inequalities. The disparities are set to be a major issue in the vote, which will be held days before the first anniversary of a youth-led protest movement. Lagging economic development and youth unemployment are in the spotlight after tens of thousands of people, predominantly Moroccans, crossed into the neighbouring Spanish enclave of Ceuta in July in a massive migrant rush. The parties in the running for power hope to tap into these frustrations, even with…
Uganda is pulling out of the Invictus Games, a sports event for wounded military veterans run by the Duke of Sussex, only two months after the country said it would join. General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, chief of defence and son of the president, made the announcement in a social media post on X. He said the decision to withdraw from the games was “in order not to be construed as being opposed to His Majesty King Charles III”. Ugandan government spokesman Alan Kasujja confirmed this to the BBC: “General Kainerugaba decides whether or not the UPDF [Uganda People’s Defence Force] participates…
Tanzanian striker Clara Luvanga has joined the Washington Spirit from Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr in a deal believed to be one of the most costly in the history of women’s football. The fee paid by the National Women’s Soccer League side has not been officially disclosed. Some are reporting it to be $2.3m, external (about £1.7m), which would make Luvanga the most expensive female footballer in history. BBC Sport has not been able to verify this figure, although a well-placed source said they believed it ranked in the top five most expensive signings in the women’s game. The Spirit declined to comment on…
By Rédaction Africanews Oil-rich Nigeria can tackle its cost-of-living crisis in part by fighting government waste, presidential candidate Peter Obi told AFP, as politicians jostle to lead Africa’s most populous country. Obi, a former governor from southeastern Nigeria, spoke to AFP Tuesday evening in Abuja, as campaigns get under way for January elections set to be defined by the economy and security. “We need to cut the cost of governance,” Obi said. “And fight corruption.” That would also open up space — and money — for the government to then focus on “health, education and lifting people out of poverty,”…
Algeria is severing diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates after “provocative or hostile” acts by the Gulf state, its foreign ministry said. “Algeria spared no effort to draw the Emirati side and warned it of the dire consequences that could result from its regrettable and unjustified behaviour,” it said. The statement did not provide any details on why Algeria has taken this step, but relations between the two countries have soured in recent years amid a series of regional disputes. There has been no direct response from the UAE, but the president’s diplomatic advisor said ties are not based…