By Sarah Miansoni with AFP Northern Rwanda continues to face repeated landslides and mudslides driven by heavy rainfall and fragile mountainous terrain. In March 2026, a mudslide hit the village of Vunga in Nyabihu District, causing widespread damage to homes and the local primary school. Kitchens and classrooms were covered in thick mud after the Kazirankara River overflowed following the landslide. The recurring disasters are taking a toll on the population. Local residents say the situation has worsened in recent years, as these extreme events become increasingly frequent and severe. “This land used to be excellent and valuable, but little…
Author: Montage Africa
By Rédaction Africanews Ethiopian opposition parties go into elections on June 1, facing threats, insurgencies, near-total state control of the media, and what they see as a pre-determined victory for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. When Abiy came to power in 2018, the first signs were encouraging. He released opposition members and journalists and resolved tensions with neighbouring Eritrea, which earned him the Nobel Peace Prize. But that gave way to mounting repression and what has effectively become a one-party state. His Prosperity Party (PP) took 96 percent of seats at the last election in 2021 and there is little sign…
By Rédaction Africanews For 20 years, Millicent Turay has supported her family by collecting mangrove oysters near Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, a common livelihood along the west African coast. But the activity, deeply rooted in local culture and which has enabled generations of women to make a living, is now under threat as mangrove forests deteriorate under pressure from human expansion. “We learnt how to do it for ourselves… to survive,” said the 50-year-old, speaking to AFP in the mangroves, machete and gloves in hand as she pried oysters from the tangled aerial roots. “This job is physically demanding” and…
By Rédaction Africanews Tuesday was the defense pleadings in the Libyan trial appeal in Paris, which will conclude on 27 May with the pleadings of the former president’s lawyers. T he ruling is due to be delivered on November 30. French prosecutors requested a seven-year prison sentence for former French president Nicolas Sarkozy in an appeal trial on charges that he sought illegal Libyan financing for his 2007 election. Sarkozy, France’s right-wing leader from 2007 to 2012, has always denied any wrongdoing in the case, but last year became modern France’s first former president to go to jail, before he…
Senegal’s former Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, who was dramatically sacked on Friday by the president, has been elected Speaker of the national parliament setting up a possible source of conflict at the top of Senegalese politics. The West African nation’s current crisis follows months of tension between Sonko and his one-time ally President Bassirou Diomaye Faye. Parliament’s previous Speaker stepped down on Sunday to make way for the former prime minister, who is a popular figure and whose Pastef party has a majority of the seats in the National Assembly. On Monday, Faye appointed economist Ahmadou Al Aminou Lo to…
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has started a legal challenge against a report commissioned by parliament that has paved the way for MPs to consider impeachment proceedings against him once again. In 2022, an independent panel said Ramaphosa might have committed serious misconduct relating to the theft of large sums of cash hidden in a sofa at his private farm. The president denied any wrongdoing. Earlier this month a Constitutional Court ruling said parliament had acted unconstitutionally when four years ago it voted against establishing an impeachment inquiry following the report. At that time Ramaphosa’s African National Congress (ANC) party had…
Colombian mercenaries were recruited by a United Arab Emirates-based company and transited through Emirati military bases to support paramilitary troops who committed atrocities in Sudan, a leading rights organisation alleges. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), the findings are further evidence of UAE-backing for the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has been accused of war crimes during the Sudanese civil war. The UAE denies claims it recruited and trained foreign fighters in its territory. “The UAE does not permit its territory to be used for the recruitment, training, financing or transit of foreign fighters to any conflict, including Sudan,” its…
The Democratic Republic of Congo have asked Fifa to refund the cost of 2026 World Cup tickets bought by fans who are now unable to enter the United States because of Ebola-related travel restrictions. The Leopards are returning to football’s biggest stage for the first time since 1974, but the public health emergency declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 16 May is threatening to stop supporters from travelling to the US. Officials say there are more than 900 suspected cases of Ebola in central and East Africa, and 223 suspected deaths, since the outbreak was declared. The vast majority of…
By Rédaction Africanews and AFP Uganda has confirmed three new cases of Ebola, bringing the country’s total to five since the outbreak was first discovered in the country on May 15. “Three new cases of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) have been confirmed in the country,” the country’s health ministry said, naming the patients as a Ugandan driver, a Ugandan health worker and a woman from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the epicentre of a deadly outbreak sowing fear in the region. “The ministry continues to strengthen surveillance, case management, contact tracing and public awareness efforts to contain…
By AP It’s still spring in western Europe, but the region is preparing for a scorching end of May heatwave. People are being urged to take extra care as high pressure traps them under what’s being described as a ‘heat dome.’ Hot weather has already hit Europe, the start of a predicted heatwave. In Whitstable, UK, ice cream vans do brisk business and people head to the beach to cool off by the water. The temperatures being forecast by meteorologists are already causing concern to health professionals. In the UK, The Met Office says temperatures are set to exceed the…