By Dominic Wabwireh with AP Felicien Kabuga, once among Rwanda’s richest businessmen and later accused of helping finance the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, has died in detention while awaiting further legal proceedings before a UN-backed tribunal in The Hague. Born in 1935 in northern Rwanda’s Byumba prefecture (now Gicumbi district), Kabuga rose from modest origins as a market trader selling small goods, cigarettes, and second-hand clothing. He later moved to Kigali, where he built a business empire including shops, a tea plantation, a mill, and real estate holdings. By the early 1990s, he was widely regarded as one of…
Author: Montage Africa
By Rédaction Africanews Nigerian industrialist Aliko Dangote visited Ethiopia over the weekend as part of efforts to deepen the group’s investment in the country, including the development of a large-scale urea fertilizer plant in Gode. The Ethiopian government and the Dangote Group had initially agreed on a $2.5 billion deal for the project, which is expected to produce 3 million metric tonnes of urea annually. The government says the plant is central to its goal of making Ethiopia self-sufficient in fertilizer production while also positioning the country as a major regional exporter. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed described food security as a “strategic intervention” as…
By Dominic Wabwireh with AP Djibouti has unveiled its first government since the re-election of President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh, with the new cabinet made up of 26 ministers, including eight women and one secretary of state. The appointments were announced Sunday through a presidential decree signed by Guelleh following his victory in the April 2026 presidential election. Several senior figures maintained key government positions in the reshuffle. Ilyas Moussa Dawaleh kept the Economy and Finance Ministry, while Abdoulkader Houssein Omar was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, in addition to serving as government spokesperson. Hassan Omar Bourhan retained…
By Rédaction Africanews Uganda’s president, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, has signed into law forbiding foreign interference in the country despite warnings from different concerned parties. Museveni, 81, has always accused mainly the opposition and other NGOs of receiving funding from abroad with the intent to destabilize the East African nation. The “Protection of Sovereignty” bill, passed by the parliament earlier this month, intends to criminalize the promotion of foreign interests at the expense of Uganda’s interests. The law, which carries a maximum imprisonment of 10 years, also bans anyone from implementing or developing policies without government approval. The bill has sparked…
Nigeria and the United States say they have killed a senior Islamic State (IS) leader in a joint-operation. Abu-Bilal al-Minuki was described by US President Donald Trump as the “second in command of ISIS globally” and “the most active terrorist in the world”. IS has radically shifted in recent years, with around 90% of its attacks now taking place in sub-Saharan Africa. Its Nigeria-based branch is by far the most active. Nigerian President Bola Tinubu said the two countries had carried out a “daring joint operation that dealt a heavy blow” to IS. Al‑Minuki was declared a Specially Designated Global…
Gunmen have kidnapped more than 50 children from three schools in the same town in north-eastern Nigeria, teachers and parents have told the BBC. Most of those missing are aged between two and five years old. Eyewitnesses who saw the attacks on Friday morning in Mussa, Borno state, say the suspects used the children as human shields while fleeing on motorbikes, preventing security forces from opening fire. No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks. Government officials have not responded to the BBC’s requests for comment, but a press statement issued on Saturday by Senator Ali Ndume of Borno South…
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo a public health emergency of international concern. The agency said the outbreak in DR Congo’s eastern Ituri province, which has seen around 246 suspected cases and 80 deaths reported, does not meet the criteria of a pandemic emergency. But it warned it could potentially be “a much larger outbreak” than what is currently being detected and reported, with significant risk of local and regional spread. The current strain of Ebola is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, the health agency said, for which there are…
It takes Fatima Bio only a moment to respond when we ask what it was like to be an asylum seeker in London. “Better than being married to an old pervert,” she says deadpan, before laughing – a reference to her father’s plans to marry her off as a teenager. A lot has changed since then. In the years that followed, she became an actress, then met a man in London when she was interviewing him about influential Sierra Leoneans in the diaspora and married him. He was Julius Bio – and he is now Sierra Leone’s president. As the…
Thousands of Kenyan commuters have been stranded and businesses paralysed as public transport operators went on a nationwide strike to protest against recent increases in the cost fuel. Key roads in the capital Nairobi remained largely empty, forcing some commuters to walk to work, with other parts of the country also affected by the transport crisis. Businesses in parts of Nairobi remained shut and schools asked students to stay at home. Protesters have been barricading roads and lighting fires on the roads as the protests continue. The strike comes days after the authorities raised petroleum prices to record levels, with…
By Rédaction Africanews and AP Morocco and Syria have taken a major step toward restoring relations, as Syrian Foreign Minister Assaad al-Chaibani visited Rabat for talks with Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita. The visit marks the first by a senior Syrian official to Morocco since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024. Speaking during a joint press conference in Rabat, Bourita described the meeting as the beginning of “a new phase” in bilateral relations after nearly ten years of diplomatic freeze between the two countries. Al-Chaibani said the visit reflected Syria’s political commitment to rebuilding ties with Morocco. He…