Category: LATEST NEWS

More than people were killed off Mozambique’s northern coast on Sunday, when the makeshift ferry they were travelling in sank, according to local media.

The boat was carrying 130 people, including many children, who were attempting to make the crossing to Mozambique Island from Lunga in Nampula province.

Local online media TV Diário Nampula reported that some of those onboard had been travelling to attend a fair on the island while others were fleeing a cholera outbreak.

Nampula Secretary of State Jaime Neto was reported as saying that misinformation about an alleged cholera outbreak caused people to panic and board the boat.

“Because the boat was overcrowded and unsuited to carry passengers it ended up sinking,” said Mr. Neto.

While rescue efforts continued on Monday, only five people of the 130 onboard have so far been rescued, according to officials.

Alongside neighbouring countries Zimbabwe and Malawi, Mozambique has in recent months been affected by a deadly cholera outbreak that authorities are battling to contain.

Since October 2023, Mozambique has reported 13,700 confirmed cases and 30 deaths. Nampula province has been one of the worst-affected by the outbreak.

The northern province has seen an influx of people fleeing conflict in neighbouring Cabo Delgado province, with the latest wave of violence in February resulting in over 33,000 new arrivals.

In a video unveiled by leading Zimbabwean newspaper The Sunday Mail, president Emmerson Mnangagwa dismissed allegations he would run for an unconstitutional third term.

“There is not an iota of evidence where Zanu PF or I, as President, has ever expressed the violation of our Constitution,” the 81-year-old said.

“We in Zanu PF are very democratic and we obey the Constitution.”

Zanu PF, the ruling party has reigned over Zimbabwe since independence.

Much attention has been drawn to a slogan heard at Zanu PF rallies in recent months ‘2030 vaMnangagwa vanenge vachipo’ (loosely translated as ‘2030 Mnangagwa will still be president’).

The party secured a supermajority in Parliament last February in disputed by-elections.

This left it closer to changing the constitution if it wishes.

Zimbabwe’s 2013 Constitution limits the presidential term of office to two five-year mandates and establishes a constitutional court.

A supporter of a hard line and heavyweight of the party in power (Zanu-PF) since independence, Mnangagwa became head of state at the end of a war of succession which opposed him to Grace Mugabe, the wife of president Robert Mugabe who was dismissed in 2017.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says it is assessing the impact of a deep drought in Africa and working on ways to provide support to the affected countries. It comes as several African countries declared national emergencies over drought.

Julie Kozack, Communications Director, International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Thursday in a press conference that the ‘IMF has over the last several years and decade seen an increased frequency of climate shocks globally’.

“And Africa has been particularly hard hit by these climate shocks. And we see this, of course, happening now with these droughts in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia.”

East Africa is facing its worst drought in 40 years, impacting more than 29 million people. The ripple effects are huge. Mass population displacement, malnutrition, food insecurity, and disease outbreaks such as Cholera.

In Somalia alone, about 1.4 million people have been displaced by drought while in Zambia, President Hakainde Hichilema declared a national disaster and emergency over drought in March, saying it had devastated food production and electricity supply.

The country’s Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union held Tuesday a protest in the western county of Kisumu while the union convened a general assembly of doctors, medical interns and students in Nairobi.

Talks between the government and the union have so far not borne any deal.

The striking professionals demand among other grievances comprehensive medical cover for the doctors, that the government posts 1,200 medical interns and accuses authorities of failing to implement a raft of promises from a collective bargaining agreement signed in 2017.

The striking professionals also demand the payment of salary arrears.

Local media reported late Monday that clinical officers have joined the doctors in the strike.

The impact of the 3-week strike is being felt across the country with many patients left unattended or being turned away from hospitals across the East African nation.

Many can’t afford going to private hospitals

Kenyan doctors began their nationwide strike on March 15.

Israel’s defense minister said Tuesday that Israel is operating “everywhere, every day” to deter its enemies, exacting a heavy toll against them.

Yoav Gallant spoke in Jerusalem a day after a strike widely attributed to Israel killed two Iranian generals and demolished Iran’s consulate in the Syrian capital Damascus.

Gallant also warned that any attack against Israel would exact a heavy price.

“Every day we gain further evidence that we find ourselves in a multi-front war. That is both offensively and defensively. We see evidence of this every day, including over the last few days. We operate everywhere, every day, in order to prevent our enemies from gaining strength and in order to make it clear to anyone who acts against us – all over the Middle East – that the price for action against Israel will be a heavy one.”

He did not refer directly to the Syria strike and Israel has not officially confirmed that it was behind the attack.

Israel has repeatedly targeted military officials from Iran, which supports militant groups in Gaza and along its border with Lebanon. Monday’s strike in Damascus signalled an escalation after it struck an Iranian diplomatic mission.

Iran has vowed to respond to the attack. “The Islamic Republic of Iran, while reserving its rights to take countermeasures, decides on the type of reaction and punishment of the aggressor,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman, Nasser Kanaani, in a statement quoted by the IRNA news agency.

Senegal inaugurated Africa’s youngest elected leader as president on Tuesday, as the 44-year-old and previously little-known Bassirou Diomaye Faye completed a dramatic ascent from prison to palace within weeks.

Last month’s election tested Senegal’s reputation as a stable democracy in West Africa, a region rocked in recent years by coups and attempted coups.

Faye was released from prison less than two weeks before the vote, along with mentor and popular opposition figure Ousmane Sonko, following a political amnesty announced by outgoing President Macky Sall.

Their arrests had sparked months of protests and concerns that Sall would seek a third term in office despite term limits.

Rights groups said dozens were killed and about 1,000 were jailed.

In his first speech as president, Faye remembered those killed and arrested during the protests and promised to deliver greater sovereignty for Senegal while working to build prosperity.

“I am aware that the results of the elections express a profound desire for systemic change,” he said.

This is the first elected office for Faye, a former tax inspector.

His rise has reflected wide spread frustration among Senegal’s youth with the country’s direction, a common sentiment across Africa, which has the world’s youngest population and a number of leaders widely accused of clinging to power for decades