– NEWS –
Bobi Wine challenges Uganda election result in court: Ugandan presidential challenger Bobi Wine on Monday presented a petition disputing the re-election of long-term President Yoweri Museveni. Museveni won the January 14 elections with 58% of the vote while popstar-turned-politician Wine had 35%, according to final results announced last week by the electoral commission. During the election, many international observers were excluded. Uganda’s internet was shut down for days before the vote, as many young Ugandans abroad also tried to watch developments. Museveni, who has ruled Uganda without pause since seizing control in 1986, has dismissed allegations of vote-rigging and accused Wine of being a foreign agent. Police surrounded Wine’s home in the aftermath of the election to prevent him leading protests. They withdrew last week following a court ruling.
dw.com, theguardian.com
Terrorist attack on hotel in Mogadishu: Five people, plus four attackers, were killed in an attack at a hotel in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Sunday, according to Somali police. The deadly siege at the Afrik hotel which left 10 other civilians injured ended after Somali security forces battled militants for eight hours, police spokesperson Sadik Aden Ali said at a press conference early on Monday. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack through a statement broadcast by Andalus Radio, its mouthpiece channel. The hotel is frequented by members of parliament, politicians, and security officials, but not foreigners. Outside the hotel is the main security checkpoint to the airport and Halane base, which houses western missions, including the US embassy.
cnn.com
Dutch court rules Shell liable for Niger Delta oil spills: An appeals court in the Netherlands on Friday ordered Royal Dutch Shell to pay compensation to Nigerian farmers over oil pollution in the Niger Delta. Shell will also now be prompted to change its practices surrounding oil spills in Nigeria, after the court found the company didn’t provide sufficient evidence to prove the leak was caused by sabotage. The case was brought in 2008 by farmers complaining of lost income from contaminated land and waterways and the environmental group Friends of the Earth. The farmers were seeking financial compensation and a clean-up by Shell for pollution caused by pipelines leaking oil into the Niger Delta.
dw.com
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Blockchain – Ticker – With our weekly newsletter we provide you with the most important developments in blockchain technology and scene. blockchain-ticker.net
Humanitarian situation in Ethiopia worsens: The humanitarian situation in Ethiopia’s troubled northern Tigray region is getting worse. Around 2.3 million people, more than half of Tigray’s population, are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, according to the United Nations. Over the past two months, most hospitals in Tigray have been looted or destroyed in fighting between troops loyal to the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and forces led by the regional Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) party. Health services have collapsed and food and medicines are in short supply. According to data collected through IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM), there were already 1,776,685 people internally displaced throughout Ethiopia – most due to drought and subsequent floods – before these latest movements. Walking for days to find safety, many sleeping out in the open along the way, the displaced communities have few if any possessions beyond the clothes they left in, and no food or money.
dw.com, un.org
Tunisia’s parliament approves cabinet reshuffle: Tunisia’s parliament on Tuesday approved a cabinet reshuffle that deepened the conflict between the prime minister and the president, as hundreds protested outside the heavily barricaded parliament over social inequality and police abuses. Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi named 11 new ministers and said he hoped it would inject new blood into his government. But President Kais Saied indicated on Monday he would reject the cabinet reshuffle, condemned the absence of women among the new ministers and said some likely new cabinet members may have conflicts of interest. Police blocked the march with barricades to prevent protesters approaching the parliament building where lawmakers were debating the government reshuffle.
reuters.com
Kenya: Endangered giraffe rescued from island on Lake Baringo africanews.com
Covid stress test for Africa’s border traffic dw.com
Africa’s fight against Covid: how the success story degenerated into a moral tragedy nzzas.nzz.ch
European Parliament: EU and Africa must “cooperate on an equal footing” euractiv.de
– BACKGROUND –
Leprosy detected in wild chimpanzees in Africa: Wild chimpanzees in Western Africa have been found with leprosy for the first time ever — and now scientists are struggling to get to the root of the infectious disease that’s mostly found in humans. The baffling discovery was made in several chimps at Cantanhez National Park in Guinea-Bissau, and in another more than a thousand miles away at Taï National Park in Ivory Coast, according to a new report by Science Magazine. The strains in each park appear unrelated, and they are unlikely to have come from contact with humans, the authors argue. The finding could indicate an unknown source of leprosy in the wild and reveal new clues about a still-mysterious disease.
nypost.com, sciencemag.org
Malawi sex workers protest at targeted police brutality after Covid-19 curfew: Dozens of sex workers took to the streets of Malawi’s capital Lilongwe on Thursday to protest against what they described as targeted police brutality following new Covid-19 restrictions. The protests were led by the Female Sex Workers Association (FSWA), which has about 120,000 members across the country, according to its national coordinator, Zinenani Majawa. Malawi has seen Covid numbers rise dramatically this month, prompting the government to take drastic action, with land borders closed and isolation orders for anyone arriving by air. But the sex workers said some of the new restrictions had led police to target them. “Because of the new Covid-19 laws, police have taken advantage of the law by coming and knocking in our rooms and beating us,” Majawa told the „Guardian“.
theguardian.com
New species of malaria mosquito is spreading on the African continent: A new malaria mosquito is emerging in African cities, with potentially devastating consequences for those living there, according to researchers from The Netherlands‘ Radboud University Medical Center and Ethiopia’s Armauer Hansen Research Institute. They warn that the larvae of Anopheles stephensi – India’s main mosquito vector of malaria – are now abundantly present in locations across Africa. Vectors are living organisms that can transmit infectious pathogens between humans, or from animals to people.
cnn.com
Isabel dos Santos forced to pay $600m in damages by Paris court: Angolan businesswoman Isabel dos Santos, who is the eldest daughter of the former president, José Eduardo dos Santos, has suffered a setback in the courts. A French court has rejected an appeal by her company Vidatel on Monday. The company will now have to pay close to $340 million to PT Ventures, which is a former shareholder owned by Angola’s oil firm Sonangol. The court decision relates to the decrease in the value of PTV shares in telecommunications company Unitel. It comes after Santos’ resignation from Unitel’s board of directors in August 2020.
theafricareport.com, africanews.com
– NUMBER –
24 percent of the seats in the Somali lower and upper houses are currently occupied by women. That could change with the upcoming parliamentary elections on February 8th: In mid-January, Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble announced that almost a third of the seats should be reserved for female MPs in the upcoming elections.
dw.com
– QUOTE –
„The NPP is the party of all categories, based on the notion of true democratic and patriotic citizenship.“
Gambia’s President Adama Barrow launched his National People’s Party (NPP) on Saturday evening to support his candidacy for the presidential election scheduled for December 4.
africanews.com
– AT LAST –
Vaccination start in Africa: The first countries in Africa have started vaccinating against the coronavirus. The World Health Organization WHO hopes for a nationwide vaccination start by the beginning of March. In particular, the unjust distribution of vaccines worldwide is delaying the start of vaccinations.
dw.com