EU adds Russian founder and financier of private military Wagner Group to sanctions blacklist
The founder of a notorious Russian mercenary force has been added to a European Union sanctions blacklist. Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin, who is closely linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian defence ministry, was added to the list of individuals sanctioned by the EU on Thursday this week for...
Tennis legend Serena Williams and rallying speedster Lewis Hamilton bid for Chelsea excites Stamford Bridge
Imminent acquisition of London glamour football club Chelsea by a group that comprises African-America tennis legend Serena Williams and motorsport speedster Lewis Hamilton is attracting interest at Stamford Bridge as current owner Roman Abramovich prepares to offload reigning European champions. The interest is being felt at club level, with Chelsea...
FAO warns Ukraine war will plunge more than 800 million people into malnutrition in one year
As the devastation in Ukraine continues to unfold, many of the warnings about the global food crisis precipitated by the war have focused on the risks of famine and severe food insecurity. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, for instance, projected last month that between eight...
Sun sets on Kenya’s economy-minded former President Mwai Kibaki aged 91 years
Former Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki died on Friday 22, April, after a long battle with unspecified disease. However, it is in public domain that just three months before he won the 2002 presidential election and succeeded his predecessor Daniel arap Moi, Kibaki was seriously injured in a road accident that...
Resetting Afghan woman’s agenda: How woman defied Taliban, went to school, opened and now driving her car
When the Taliban seized power across Afghanistan last August, Aaila’s first reaction was to stage an act of quiet protest. As Taliban fighters swept into Bamiyan, the ancient city in central Afghanistan, the 37-year-old got behind the wheel of her white Toyota and drove around town. “I wanted to tell...
AI colonialism: South African experts argue that Artificial Intelligence is repeating patterns of apartheid history
Thami Nkosi points to the tell-tale black box atop a utility pole on a street once home to two Nobel Peace Prize laureates: South Africa’s first Black president, Nelson Mandela, and the anti-apartheid activist and theologian Desmond Tutu. It always happens this way, Nkosi says. First the fibre; then the...
UNSC failure to renew Somali coast piracy resolution fuels speculation the threat is no more in Indian Ocean
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has for the first time since 2002 not renewed piracy resolution that was used to manage the Somali coast of the Indian Ocean, leading to assumptions that the menace has been rolled back to insignificance or eliminated completely. Consequently, the expiry of the UNSC’s...
US accuses Russia of recruiting ex-Ethiopian soldiers to fight in Ukraine, embassy in Addis Ababa denies
Hundreds of Ethiopians reportedly have been lined up for days outside the Russian embassy in Addis Ababa this week in hopes of being recruited to fight for Moscow in its invasion of Ukraine. But the embassy has dismissed claims it is recruiting foreign fighters and says the Ethiopians are there...
Fresh fears in Horn of Africa about Somalia’s stability as Amisom winds up, mandate given to fragile government
The African Union Mission in Somalia – Amisom – has ended its 15-year political and military experiment in post-conflict state building. On April 1, 2022, a shift took place as the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) came into being. The transition’s mission is to pave the way for...
African migrants stage protest at UNHCR office in Tunisia to demand evacuation to alternative countries
Dozens of refugees and migrants in Tunisia are demanding evacuation to other countries. The refugees, who are mostly survivors of illegal immigration attempts by sea to Europe, have been staging a sit-in in front of the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the Tunisian capital,...
