By Rédaction Africanews with AFP A report by an African anti-corruption group alleges that dozens of Nigerian officials laundered hundreds of millions of dollars through property purchases in the United States over more than two decades. The investigation by the Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa (PPLAAF) identified 284 US properties worth about $271m that it says are linked to 61 current and former senior Nigerian officials. Corruption is endemic in Nigeria, one of Africa’s largest economies and its top oil producer. The report’s findings thrust graft back into the spotlight months before January’s presidential election, which economic hardships and…
Author: Montage Africa
Usman Muhammad pauses by the entrance to a tiny Nigerian prison cell and leans his forehead against the wall unable to speak. The day before he had been trapped inside the stifling room, measuring roughly 6m (19.7ft) by 3m (9.8ft), with more than 50 other prisoners. Thirty-three of his cellmates died in the cramped conditions in the prison in Minna, the capital of Nigeria’s Niger state – and four died later in hospital. The mass deaths caused an outcry and sparked protests, including attacks on public buildings, as relatives and locals demanded answers. Federal officials had initially blamed the deaths…
By Rédaction Africanews Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye met with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The two leaders reviewed the partnership between their countries and ways to strengthen it, according to a statement from Faye’s office. They also discussed challenged to peace and security and reaffirmed their commitment to upholding the UN Charter and to the peaceful settlement of disputes, the statement said. The appointment of the next UN Secretary General was also on the agenda. Senegal’s former president, Macky Sall, is one of the candidates…
By Al Jazeera Staff, AFP and Reuters South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has dissolved the country’s transitional unity government and appointed a caretaker administration as the country prepares for its first-ever national elections. The decree on Tuesday ended a power-sharing arrangement set up under a 2018 peace deal that halted years of civil war, and raised concerns that Kiir could now wield unchecked power. end of listThe decree, read out by the national broadcaster, said all vice-presidents, ministers and local administrators have been removed and that the national and state assemblies have been dissolved. The judiciary and security institutions remain…
The UK is reviewing its deal to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, the defence secretary has said. Wes Streeting confirmed the deal was being looked at again after US President Donald Trump called it “terrible” at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday. The original agreement would see the UK cede sovereignty of the territory to Mauritius and pay an average of £101m ($136m) per year to lease back a joint UK-US military base there, prized for its strategic location in the Indian Ocean. In April the deal, agreed under Sir Keir Starmer, was paused indefinitely because Trump pulled…
By Rédaction Africanews and Agencies Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) announced on Tuesday that the country possesses the technological infrastructure to make missiles with significantly longer ranges. IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebbi made the announcement in an interview with the official news agency IRNA, stressing that a political decision needs to be made within the country regarding the production of such missiles. Mohebbi noted that in any confrontation, Iran will unveil new weapons with new ranges, precision and destructive power, emphasising that battlefield is the best place to test new weapons. He said Iran recently tested a new missile on…
Disillusioned young voters in Morocco were courted with viral football slogans, promises of one million jobs and anti-Israel rallying calls ahead of Wednesday’s parliamentary elections. Yet, for many young Moroccans, politics remains deeply disconnected from reality. “I have no hope for this election. I’m ashamed of our political scene. It’s a complete circus,” Siham Azeroual, 32, an environmental activist who lives in the Atlas region, tells the BBC. The outcome of the vote will decide the make-up of the next government, just weeks after 60,000 people risked their lives to cross from the North African country to the Spanish enclave…
By Al Jazeera Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Majed al-Ansari says Doha will keep pushing for diplomacy to end crises around the world from Africa’s Great Lakes region to the Gulf. Speaking to Al Jazeera on Tuesday, al-Ansari welcomed the restoration of ties between Belgium and Rwanda, 18 months after they expelled each other’s diplomats over the conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). end of listIn a joint statement on Tuesday, the two countries thanked Qatar for facilitating their first talks in June 2025, which al-Ansari said led to further diplomatic rapprochement between them. …
By Rédaction Africanews with AFP A senior South African police officer appeared in court Tuesday on rape and sexual grooming charges, intensifying scrutiny of gender-based violence in a country with one of the world’s highest violent crime rates. Lieutenant-General Shadrack Sibiya, the suspended deputy national police commissioner, is accused of sexually grooming a 16-year-old girl between July and August 2026 and raping an 18-year-old teenager at a hotel in Johannesburg’s affluent Sandton district, police said. His arrest comes as authorities face growing pressure over gender-based violence after nine women were found murdered east of Johannesburg within the space of two…
At least 11 people have been killed in a mass shooting in a residential building near the South African city of Durban. Gunmen stormed a house in the KwaMakhutha township late on Tuesday and opened fire on 14 people. Ten were killed at the scene and four were taken to hospital, where one later died from their injuries, police said. Police said some of the victims were on their watch in connection with illegal activities, which they could not “divulge at the moment to protect investigations which have been launched”. While the motive of the shooting has not yet confirmed,…