By Rédaction Africanews A Chinese national has been arrested at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi after authorities found more than 2,000 live queen garden ants hidden in his luggage, Kenyan officials said. The suspect, identified as Zhang Kequn, was intercepted during a security check while attempting to board a flight to China. Prosecutors told a court that the ants were carefully concealed in test tubes and tissue paper rolls inside his luggage. According to investigators, 1,948 ants were packed in specialised test tubes, while another 300 were hidden in three rolls of tissue paper. Authorities say the ants, scientifically…
Author: Montage Africa
Senegal’s parliament has approved a new law doubling to 10 years the maximum prison term for sexual acts by same-sex couples and criminalising the “promotion” of homosexuality. A total of 135 MPs voted in favour, zero against and three abstained. The next step will be for the president to sign it, then it will become law. The legislation, which was a campaign promise of President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, was sent to parliament after a wave of arrests over alleged same-sex relationships, already banned under Senegalese law. The government spokesman dismissed international criticism of the bill,…
“Even if you’re scared of something new, like I was of technology, don’t run from it. Ask questions, learn, and keep going.” Ayisha Sheshafi Abagero may come across as a shy, soft-spoken woman, but her strength is unmistakable. A coffee farmer, a mother of four, and a devout wife, she lives in Limmu Kosa Woreda in Jimma, Ethiopia. A one-hour flight away from Addis Ababa, Limmu Kosa is an area nestled amidst rolling hills, green forests, fertile farmland, gurgling streams, and the aroma of freshly brewed coffee. It is here, amid nature and community, that Ayisha has slowly transformed her life.…
According to Human Rights Watch, the Haitian government is using its security forces and contractors to launch drone strikes on armed gangs — strikes that are also endangering civilians. The orgaisation added that such strikes killed at least 1243 people between March last year and January 2026, including 17 children. Scores more were wounded, again, including civilians. Human Rights Watch’s Americas director, Juanita Goebertus, has urged Haiti’s government to rein in the operations. “Haitian authorities should urgently rein in the security forces and private contractors working for them before more children die,” Goebertus said. The attacks have been attributed to…
Less than four years after a peace agreement ended the civil war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, conflict is looming once again. And civilians aren’t waiting for the fighting to start – they’re already starting to flee. Its deep in the night in Mekelle, the capital of Ethiopia’s Tigray region, but dozens of young men with backpacks and suitcases are searching for a bus to Addis Ababa. While war sets much of the Middle East alight, just across the waters of the Red Sea, another conflict is looming in the Horn of Africa. Federal and Tigrayan forces are once again…
By Rédaction Africanews with AP Jihadi extremist groups, including Boko Haram and one of its factions, have been blamed for intensified attacks targeting Nigeria’s military bases in the northeast of the country in the last week. At least two officers and several soldiers have been killed in the attacks, which analysts say shows a remarkable level of coordination. Over the weekend, Islamic extremists launched at least six attacks in Borno and Yobe states and in the wider Lake Chad region, spiriting away trucks and military hardware from the bases, according to security analysts and security reports. The Nigerian military said…
By Rédaction Africanews As accounts of human rights violations in South Sudan pile up, the spokesperson for the UN high comisisoner of human rights has voiced concern Seif Magango said, “in the past 17 days, more than 160 civilians have been killed, at least 139 of them by fighters from the Bul Nuer ethnic group in Abiemnom locality, in the Ruweng Administrative Area, on 1 March. On 21 February, 21 civilians were killed by government forces in Panko village, Ayod County, Jonglei State, when soldiers lured them into gathering at one place promising to give them food aid, then opened…
By Africanews with AP Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly said Tuesday that his government had to raise fuel prices to make sure local production continues and the economy remains stable. Madbouly said during a cabinet meeting that the government faced a choice between maintaining current fuel prices — a move that would have imposed heavy costs on the state — or raising them to shield industrial and business operations from the repercussions of the U.S.–Israel war on Iran. Even with the increase, he said, Egypt is still absorbing “significant costs.” “We took these decisions during exceptional circumstances,” he said, adding…
By Rédaction Africanews Many Egyptians are fretting over price hikes that have seen the cost of everyday goods surge. It comes after the government increased fuel prices, blaming soaring global energy markets due to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. El-Sayed Mohamed, a truck driver, is among those affected. “Prices are high because vendors use trucks to transport vegetables from wholesalers, which increases the costs. Today, the cost of transporting vegetables has risen to 3,000-4,000 Egyptian pounds [78-57 USD] from the previous 2,500 pounds,” he said. Price hikes of up to 30 percent were announced overnight Monday. Both vendors and buyers…
By Rédaction Africanews Air strikes overnight Tuesday to Wednesday killed several people in the key eastern Democratic Republic of Congo city of Goma, controlled by the Rwanda-backed M23 militia, sources told AFP. Since taking up arms again in 2021, the M23 has seized swathes of the mineral-rich Congolese east with Rwanda’s backing, unleashing a fresh spiral of violence in a region long plagued by fighting. According to witnesses, the sound of bomb blasts and buzzing drones rang out in several residential neighbourhoods of Goma, a large provincial capital near the border with Rwanda, which the M23 seized in a lightning…