By Dominic Wabwireh with AP President Donald Trump secretly switched from Air Force One to a smaller military aircraft after last month’s NATO summit in Ankara, according to The Washington Post, in an elaborate security operation reportedly prompted by an Iranian threat against him. Trump was publicly seen boarding an older-model Air Force One at Ankara airport after the NATO summit, leading journalists and some White House staff to believe he would fly aboard the presidential jet to Britain. But according to the Post, Trump was secretly transferred minutes later to a smaller Air Force C-32A. The newspaper reported that…
Author: Montage Africa
By Dominic Wabwireh with AFP A bitter cold snap is sweeping across South Africa, bringing heavy snow, freezing temperatures and strong winds to several provinces. Snow has covered high-lying areas while forecasters warn of more wintry weather and rough seas along the coast. Snow has fallen across high-lying parts of the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Free State, while mountain peaks in the Western Cape have also turned white. The snowfall has created striking winter scenes across the country, with snow-covered landscapes contrasting with the milder conditions South Africa typically experiences during winter. Further snowfall remains possible, particularly over mountainous areas…
Libyan emergency services have been battling to contain a huge blaze at a major oil plant after it was targeted by unknown attackers. The Zawiya refinery, west of the capital Tripoli, was hit in a drone strike on Monday evening – the third such incident in two days. The National Oil Corporation (NOC) said a tank containing about 4.5m litres of fuel was directly hit, triggering a huge fire that caused it to collapse. It said it was considering suspending operations if the attacks continued. There were no “serious injuries” from the fire, with most patients treated for smoke inhalation,…
By Dominic Wabwireh with AFP Tigray rebel authorities have accused Ethiopia’s federal government of carrying out deadly drone strikes in the region, raising fears of a renewed conflict nearly four years after a peace deal ended a devastating two-year war. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front said Tuesday that Ethiopian government forces carried out a drone strike Monday in Merewa, in southern Tigray near the border with the Amhara region. Amanuel Assefa, a TPLF official, told AFP that the strike was carried out by the Ethiopian government. In a statement, the TPLF said the strikes targeted Tigrayan troops and caused casualties,…
By Rédaction Africanews The trial of Malian commentator Youssouf Bathily, known as Ras Bath, and activist Rose opened on August 10 before the Bamako Court of Appeal, with both denying accusations of criminal association and undermining state institutions. The first hearing focused largely on audio recordings presented by prosecutors as evidence. Ras Bath, who has been in provisional detention for nearly three years, rejected the charges against him. When asked in court whether he admitted to the accusations, he answered “No” and remained composed throughout the hearing. Meanwhile, Rose told the court that her social media posts and public remarks…
By Rédaction Africanews A rockfall at an illegal mine northwest of Johannesburg killed 14 clandestine miners, most of them from Lesotho, with several hurt and others possibly still stuck underground, police said Tuesday. Thousands of unregistered miners known as “zama zamas” operate in South Africa, scavenging abandoned mines for gold and other minerals in arduous and often perilous conditions. “Fourteen illegal miners, mostly Basothos, died during a rockfall,” police spokeswoman Colonel Adele Myburgh said. “Eight others were hospitalised and an unknown number of illegal miners are currently possibly stuck under the ground. Police are on the scene, and the scene…
A spectre is hanging over the Zambian election campaign in the shape of former President Edgar Lungu. Despite having died more than a year ago in South Africa, his body remains unburied amid a bitter dispute between President Hakainde Hichilema and the Lungu family that has sharpened political divisions. This has had a role in energising support for the opposition National Reconciliation Party for Unity and Prosperity (NRPUP), particularly in the northern half of the country, traditional strongholds of Lungu’s Patriotic Front (PF), as people see it as offering the best chance to unseat the incumbent. Meanwhile, it has complicated…
By Dominic Wabwireh with other agencies The death of Yves Sakila, a 35-year-old Congolese man who died after being restrained by security guards in central Dublin, has sparked protests, international attention and renewed scrutiny of racism in Ireland. As investigations continue, difficult questions are being asked about policing, discrimination and the treatment of Black communities. The death of Yves Sakila has become one of the most sensitive public controversies in Ireland in recent years. The 35-year-old Congolese-born man died on 15 May after being restrained by several security guards outside a department store in Dublin city centre following an alleged…
By Rédaction Africanews with AFP Campaign posters of Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s Prosperity Party line the road leading to his birth town of Beshasha where he is a local hero. He was born in 1976 into a modest family in the rural town of around 8,000 inhabitants, and is the first person from the Oromo community to lead Ethiopia. Residents point to recent development projects as signs of change. Despite its modest size, the town benefits from the modernisation projects and construction works Abiy has, in the main, devoted to major cities and certain specific remote areas. Houses and…
The UK will not have to pay Rwanda millions of pounds over the collapsed asylum agreement that was cancelled by Keir Starmer shortly after he took office, an international court has ruled. The Rwandan government had sought to sue the UK for more than £100m, saying it had breached the terms of the deal. Signed by the previous Conservative government, it was meant to see the UK pay Rwanda to host asylum seekers who had arrived illegally in the UK. Lawyers representing the UK during the three-day hearing in the Netherlands had argued that it was “entirely logical” the plan…