Rescuers were racing to help people caught in fast-rising floodwaters in Mozambique’s cyclone-hit city of Pemba on Sunday, as houses collapsed in one neighborhood and heavy rain raised fears of worse to come. Cyclone Kenneth slammed into the northern province of Cabo Delgado on Thursday, flattening entire villages and killing at least five people. It […]

Rescuers were moving in to help people trapped by rapidly rising floodwater in the northern Mozambique city of Pemba on Sunday, home to 200,000 people, a United Nations (U.N.) spokesman said, as Cyclone Kenneth dumped more rain on the region. The storm slammed in to the province of Cabo Delgado on Thursday, killing five people, […]

The United Nations said on Friday it will investigate allegations that survivors of Cylone Idai in Mozambique are being forced to have sex with community leaders for food. The community leaders – believed to be linked to the ruling Frelimo party – demanded money from survivors to have their names included on aid distribution lists, […]

Cyclone Kenneth killed at least one person and left a trail of destruction in northern Mozambique, destroying houses, ripping up trees and knocking out power, authorities said on Friday. Officials said thousands have been left homeless, and warn of heavy rains to come. (UPDATE: Cyclone Kenneth brings floods to Mozambique, death toll rises to 5) […]

The largest uncut diamond in recent history has been unearthed in a mine in Botswana. It’s larger than a tennis ball, and second only to South Africa’s famous Cullinan Diamond. The announcement was made Thursday by Lucara Diamond Corp which found the treasure at its Karowe mine in Botswana, beating the Canadian company’s own record […]

Unfortunately Cyclone Kenneth has stayed on course and has battered northern Mozambique on Thursday with gusts of up to 280 km per hour after killing three people on the island nation of Comoros overnight. Impoverished Mozambique is still recovering from another powerful tropical cyclone (Idai) which made landfall further south last month, flattening the port […]

Tanzania on Tuesday denied blocking the publication of a critical International Monetary Fund report that accuses President John Magufuli’s government of undermining economic growth with “unpredictable and interventionist” policies. In the leaked report, seen by Reuters last week and which the IMF said was not made public after Tanzanian authorities did not consent to its […]

Violent winds of up to 140 kph lashed the East African island nation of Comoros overnight, killing three people, authorities said on Thursday, as tropical Cyclone Kenneth swept towards flood-battered Mozambique and southern Tanzania. The region was pounded by Cyclone Idai last month; the storm and subsequent flooding killed more than 1,000 people in Mozambique, […]

MAPUTO – Another tropical cyclone – Kenneth – is expected to make landfall on Mozambique’s coast on Thursday, just over a month after a more powerful storm struck the Mozambican port city of Beira further south and killed hundreds of people. Weather forecasters say Cyclone Kenneth will bring heavy rainfall, strong winds and waves of […]

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan are rumoured to be in talks about a move to Africa after the imminent birth of their baby. According to the UK’s Sunday Times, a “formal plan” is being drawn up to move the Duke and Duchess of Sussex (Harry and Meghan) overseas to work. Those involved in the […]

MAPUTO – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will grant Mozambique a $118.2 million credit facility to help it rebuild infrastructure after a devastating cyclone that killed hundreds of people and flattened whole villages, the lender said on Friday. The IMF said in a statement that this will be a zero-interest, 10-year loan. More than 1,000 […]

When Ohio University integrative biologist Nancy Stevens peered into a drawer in the wooden cabinets on the top floor of a Nairobi museum in 2010, she saw a chunk of rock containing massive teeth and knew she had come across something important. The overlooked fossils stored at the National Museums of Kenya belonged to one […]

With little faith in their government, Zimbabweans took the rescue effort into their own hands after Cyclone Idai hit the Chimanimani region. Steve Kretzmann reports… The first rains in the aftermath of Cyclone Idai fell on Chimanimani on 12 April, once again isolating the town nearly a month after floods and mudslides left at least […]

Hundreds of thousands of people are still in need of aid after Cyclone Idai battered Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi in March. More than 1,000 people have been reported killed by the storm, the flooding it caused and heavy rains before it hit. The World Bank estimates the affected countries will need over $2 billion to […]

Pope Francis, in a dramatic gesture after an unprecedented retreat at the Vatican, knelt to kiss the feet of South Sudan’s previously warring leaders on Thursday as he urged them to not return to a civil war. Dropping to his knees, he appealed to the men – President Salva Kiir, his former deputy turned rebel […]

KHARTOUM – Sudanese President Omar Hassan Bashir, who weathered multiple armed rebellions, economic crises and attempts by the West to make him a pariah, was forced to step down by the military on Thursday after popular protests. Bashir, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1989, was at the presidential residence under “heavy guard”, […]

Tanzania plans to ban the production, importation, sale and use of all single-use plastic bags by July, to help tackle pollution from non-biodegradable waste… which will be a relief to South African expats in the country who have long voiced concern over the mounting plastic bag crisis, with winds blowing thousands of discarded plastic bags […]

A South African court has ruled that Mozambique’s former finance minister Manuel Chang can be extradited to the United States, where he is wanted on charges related to a $2 billion debt scandal, one of Chang’s lawyers said on Monday. The ruling will effectively serve as a recommendation for South Africa’s justice minister, who has […]

HARARE – Zimbabwe is to start paying compensation this year to thousands of white farmers who lost land under former president Robert Mugabe’s land reform nearly two decades ago, the government said, as it seeks to bring closure to a highly divisive issue. Two decades ago Mugabe’s government carried out at times violent evictions of […]

An American tourist and her driver have been rescued unharmed after being kidnapped in a national park in southwestern Uganda last week, the Ugandan authorities said on Sunday. Kimberley Sue Endecott, 35, was abducted by gunmen in Queen Elizabeth National Park, near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, on April 4. The kidnappers […]

PARIS – French President Emmanuel Macron wants to declare April 7 as a national day of commemoration of the Rwandan genocide, his Elysee office said in a statement on Sunday. The presidency made the announcement as the Rwandan government started commemorations marking the 25th anniversary of the genocide against Tutsi and moderate Hutus, raising the […]

An American woman and her driver are still missing after having been kidnapped at Uganda’s most popular wildlife park by four gunmen demanding a ransom of $500,000, according to local police. (UPDATE: American tourist and driver, kidnapped in Uganda, rescued!) Businesswoman and beautician Kimberley Sue Endecott, 35, and Ugandan driver Jean Paul were on a […]

BEIRA, Mozambique – Hundreds of thousands of people are in need of food, water and shelter after Cyclone Idai battered Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi. And, as of today (Tues), at least 843 people had been reported killed by the storm, the flooding it caused and heavy rains before it hit. View the factbox at the […]

The 40,000 sq km Serengeti-Mara plain that straddles the border of Kenya and Tanzania is famous for its abundant and diverse wildlife. It is also home to one of the wonders of the world: the Serengeti-Mara wildebeest migration. Each year about two million wildebeest, zebra and gazelles migrate from Tanzania to Kenya’s Maasai Mara in […]

BEIRA, Mozambique – Cyclone Idai’s deadly hit has left some 1.85 million people in need of assistance in Mozambique in a catastrophe that United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday rang “yet another alarm bell” about climate change. Guterres described Idai, which flattened homes and caused massive flooding after slamming into Mozambique near the […]