Africa

12 hours agoShareSaveBernd Debusmann JrBBC News, WashingtonShareSaveBrent Bozell has founded a number of conservative media organisations, including the Media Research Center. US President Donald Trump has named conservative media critic and pro-Israel commentator Leo Brent Bozell III as ambassador to South Africa, amid worsening diplomatic ties between the two countries.
Mr Bozell ‘s nomination follows Washington’s expulsion of South Africa’s ambassador, Ebrahim Rasool, for remarks deemed critical of Trump.
The Trump administration has condemned South Africa’s legal action against Israel at the International Court of Justice over the war in Gaza and has accused its government of discriminating against white South Africans to seize their land.
The nomination must still be confirmed by the US Senate.
Mr Bozell, 69, was previously nominated to lead the US Agency for Global Media – a now-closed umbrella organisation that oversaw Voice of America and Radio Free Europe – but the bid was l..

16 hours agoShareSaveTeklemariam BekitBBC TigrinyaShareSaveGetachew Reda became Tigray’s president following a devastating civil warIn an effort to quell rising tensions in its troubled Tigray region, Ethiopia’s prime minister has said he will appoint a new leader in the area.
Tigray’s interim President Getachew Reda fled to the capital, Addis Ababa, earlier this month following a power struggle in the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which runs the region.
In a novel approach, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed asked Tigrayans to suggest who the region’s new leader should be via email.
The infighting has sparked fears that Tigray could return to the civil war that claimed an estimated half a million lives.
Prime Minister Abiy on Wednesday said Tigray’s leadership had failed to create the conditions for elections following the 2020-22 civil war which saw the TPLF battle Ethiopia’s federal government.
A peace deal – known as the Pretoria Agreement – stopped the gruelling conflict and led..

26 March 2025ShareSaveKhanyisile NgcoboBBC News, JohannesburgShareSaveThe makarapa was originally a helmet for construction workers but has now been embraced by South African sports fansYoh! I'm so gatvol of this tjoekie and need a zol to handle these moggy people.
No, these are not grammatical errors – this is a sentence comprising South African words included in the Oxford English Dictionary's (OED) latest update.
It means: Wow, I'm so annoyed by this prison and need to smoke some marijuana to handle these irrational people.
These popular words are among a slew of “untranslatable words”, defined by the OED as “words and phrases in one language that cannot be translated into another”, featured in the latest lexicon.
Other “loan words” included in the update come from the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Ireland.
The list of South African words come from several of the country's 12 official languages and they are:
Yoh: A popular South African interjection, whic..

16 hours agoShareSaveBarbara Plett UsherBBC News, Port SudanShareSaveThis is believed to be the first time Gen Burhan has set foot in the presidential palace since the start of the war almost two years ago.Sudan’s military leader, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has visited the presidential palace in Khartoum, after landing at the city’s international airport, just hours after it was recaptured by the army.
Surrounded by cheering soldiers at the venue – a significant symbol of absolute power and sovereignty – Burhan declared the capital “free” of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
“Khartoum is free, it’s done,” he said.
This is believed to be the first time Burhan has set foot in the presidential palace since the start of the war almost two years ago.
The military-led government was forced to move to Port Sudan on the Red Sea after the RSF seized control of the capital early in the war.
Earlier, an army commander told the BBC that his troops had fully secured the airport and expected..

President Évariste Ndayishimiye says there’s “credible intelligence” that Rwanda plans to attack Burundi.

14 hours agoShareSaveWycliffe Muia & Danai Nesta KupembaBBC News, Nairobi & LondonShareSaveKenyan police officers arrived in Haiti in June to help the security forcesA Kenyan police officer deployed in Haiti as part of the international security force has been killed after an attack by suspected gang members, the country’s transitional council says, after he was initially reported missing.
“This valiant policeman, committed to the side of the Haitian forces to fight against insecurity, has made the ultimate sacrifice for a better future,” read a statement from Haiti’s Presidential Transitional Council (CPT).
The officer was identified as Benedict Kabiru. His mother spoke to local media, saying she was overwhelmed with emotion.
“I am a single mother. He was my only hope,” she said.
The CPT statement did not disclose whether the officer’s body had been retrieved.
The Kenyan authorities confirmed the officer was missing but are yet to comment on his reported killing.
There has been wid..

7 hours agoShareSaveAdam DurbinBBC NewsShareSaveDr Sophie Chandauka and Prince Harry together at a Sentebale event in 2024The Duke of Sussex has resigned from a charity he set up after a row between the trustees and the chair of its board.
Prince Harry co-founded Sentebale in 2006 in honour of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, to help people in southern Africa living with HIV and Aids.
He stepped down with his co-founder, Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, and the board of trustees because its relationship with chairwoman Dr Sophie Chandauka “broke down beyond repair” after she was asked to resign and took legal action.
Dr Chandauka said she reported the trustees to the UK Charity Commission and had “blown the whistle” about issues including abuse of power, bullying, sexism and racism.
The Charity Commission said it was “aware of concerns about the governance” of Sentebale and is looking into them.
In a joint statement, the duke and Prince Seeiso said they were resigning from their roles w..

Algeria, Egypt and Morocco remain on track to reach the 2026 World Cup but Sudan’s unlikely bid to qualify suffers a setback.

1 day agoShareSaveWycliffe MuiaBBC NewsShareSaveThe White Army militia fought alongside Vice-President Riek Machar during the civil war that broke out in 2013Barrel bombs believed to contain a highly flammable liquid have been used in airstrikes in South Sudan as escalating violence pushes the world’s newest country to the brink of another civil war, the UN has said.
The comments by Nicholas Haysom, head of the UN mission in South Sudan, follow recent fighting between the army and a rebel militia, known as the White Army, at a military base in the northern town of Nasir in oil-rich Upper Nile State.
Since the White Army overran the base, there had been persistent aerial bombardment causing “significant casualties and horrific burns”, he said.
“A conflict would erase all the hard-won gains made since the 2018 peace deal was signed,” he warned.
“It would devastate not only South Sudan but the entire region, which simply cannot afford another war,” Mr Haysom said.
The government has not r..

6 hours agoShareSaveBarbara Plett Usher & Natasha BootyBBC News, in Port Sudan & LondonShareSaveThe market is not far from the city of el-Fasher, which is controlled by the armyA Sudanese war monitor has accused the military of killing hundreds of people in an air strike on a market in the country’s western Darfur region on Monday.
The Emergency Lawyers group – which documents abuses by both sides in Sudan’s civil war that erupted in April 2023 – said the bombing of Tur’rah market was a “horrific massacre” that had also left hundreds injured.
Videos posted on social media – some by the army’s rival the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group that controls much of Darfur – showed the smoking ruins of market stalls and bodies charred beyond recognition.
A military spokesperson denied targeting civilians, saying it only attacked legitimate hostile targets.
Both the Sudanese armed forces and RSF have repeatedly been accused of shelling civilian areas.
The RSF has deployed drones ..