US slaps visa restrictions on Ethiopian and Eritrean officials over human rights abuses
The United States has announced visa restrictions on Ethiopian and Eritrean officials accused of fuelling the six-month-old war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, saying those involved had “taken no meaningful steps to end hostilities.” “People in Tigray continue to suffer human rights violations, abuses and atrocities and urgently needed humanitarian relief...
DR Congo government struggles to rescue citizens in Goma as Mt Nyiragongo volcano erupts
The government in the Democratic Republic of Congo has launched an urgent evacuation plan for the eastern city of Goma after a large volcano erupted. Fountains of high lava burst from the Mount Nyiragongo into the night sky forming a thick orange cloud over Goma, which has a population of...
Report: Sexual exploitation and abuse are endemic in UN humanitarian division
In September last year, during investigations by The New Humanitarian and the Thomson Reuters Foundation in Beni – 60 kilometres northeast of Butembo – the 51 women said dozens of men, mostly foreigners, had coerced them into having sex in exchange for jobs. The majority of those claims were also...
America’s largest forestry research Africa can copy in its Great Green Wall plan
Despite lingering tensions among environmentalists and loggers, a plan to launch the largest forestry experiment in the United States – and perhaps the world – last month cleared a major hurdle. Controversially, the study would allow logging in a new research forest, in an attempt to answer a grand question:...
Six orphaned Zimbabwean elephant calves on verge of being released into the wild
Six orphaned elephant calves moved 900 kilometres closer to freedom this week after they translocated from Harare to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, conservation non-governmental organisation, Wild is Life (WIL), has announced. Chief executive and founder of Wild is Life (WIL) Roxy Danckwerts said when he announced the imminent release of...
Central African energy industry wary of bloc’s punitive foreign exchange protocols
Financial flow regulations adopted by the Central Bank of Central African States (BEAC) are likely to slow down business in the economic bloc, oil companies operating in the bank’s jurisdiction warn. Fears of imminent economic and business setbacks were expressed at a May 17 meeting between BEAC and African Energy...
Wildlife conservation goes nuclear as endangered African rhino project is launched
A nuclear science-based project with high potential to drastically reduce rhino poaching in Africa was mid this month (May) launched in South Africa. It is expected that the success of the project will decrease the demand for rhino horn on the international market as well as make the it more...
Seychelles: Bigger worry is impact of low tourist arrivals, not Covid infection
The Seychelles vaccination puzzle is a reminder that even after widespread vaccinations, infections are unlikely to stop completely. This is because, although 61.4 per cent of the population is already fully immunised that hasn’t been enough to stop the rapid spread of the virus. The vaccines available are able to...
Irony of Seychelles’ 60 per cent vaccinated and sharp rise in Covid infections
While other nations struggle to secure enough vaccines, the Seychelles is in the enviable position of having already fully immunised more than 61.4 per cent of the population. But that hasn’t been enough to stop the spread of Covid. Over the past month, case numbers have been rising in the...
South Sudan’s refugees fear army brutality as UN forces pull out of protection camps
When she was just nine, Sara Nyatapa fled to a UN camp as South Sudanese government soldiers launched attacks against members of her community during the heat of the civil war. Seven years later, the 16-year-old fears the past may repeat itself after peacekeepers transferred responsibility for protecting her camp...
