Suicide dubbed ‘silent epidemic’ in central Kenya, where men are the most likely to end own lives
Some 726,000 people globally commit suicide every year, according to World Health Organization official statistics. Many more people make suicide attempts but every suicide is a tragedy that affects families, communities and even the whole world. Last year alone, suicide was cited as the third leading cause of death among people aged between 15-19 years worldwide.
Turning and turning in widening gyre: How President Museveni lost touch with reality in Uganda with sonorous ‘cyclic talking’
In Uganda NRM politics has been full of circular talking: arguments about the bush war in Luwero, ambushing Obote’s vehicle, killing Obote’s soldiers ostensible to liberate Uganda. This has gone on since 1986 – a period of nearly 40 years or four decades. At the centre of the circular talking is President Tibuhaburwa Museveni, himself an expert at circular arguments, all intended to raise himself over and above everyone else or every institution.
Angola proposes direct peace talks between Congo and M23, but Kinshasa says it’s not keen
M23 rebels have seized east Congo’s two biggest cities since January in an escalation of a long-running conflict rooted in the spill-over into Congo of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide and the struggle for control of Congo’s vast mineral resources.
As war ravages eastern Congo WHO injects fresh support into mpox vaccination drive to limit spread
In 2024, the DRC confirmed 25 cases of circulating variant poliovirus (types 1 and 2) and reported more than 102,500 suspected measles cases, resulting in over 2,200 deaths. Meningitis also remains a major concern, with 5,837 suspected cases and 465 deaths last year.
Double trouble: Rwanda-backed rebels advance in eastern Congo complicates response to mpox outbreak
More than 600 mpox patients fled different hospitals in eastern Congo as the fighting escalated, the Africa CDC said. Many of the fleeing patients were in the Miti Murhesa health zone, one of the hardest hit in the mpox outbreak. At least 4,700 cases were reported there as of the end of 2024, according to the zone’s chief medical officer Dr Cikuru.
Nandi County Deputy Governor proposes monetisation of artefacts made by local women
Dr Mitei suggested that if more women find their way to leadership positions then a more accommodative society will be established where everyone’s voice will be heard.
Body of Kenyan officer killed by gangs in Haiti on UN peace mission retuned home for burial
A contingent of around 800 Kenyan police is leading the mission that includes soldiers and police from countries such as Jamaica, Guatemala and El Salvador who are working alongside Haiti’s National Police.
Uganda deploys special forces to South Sudan to protect President Kiir as another bloody civil war looms
Last week a South Sudanese general was among several people killed when a United Nations helicopter on a mission to evacuate government troops from the town of Nasir, the scene of the fighting in Upper Nile State, was shot at. Earlier in the week, after the White Army overran the military garrison in Nasir, government troops surrounded Machar’s home in Juba and several of his allies were arrested. Deputy army chief Gen Gabriel Duop Lam, who is seen as loyal to Machar, was among those detained.
Liberation Theology: Bigotry of Ugandan Church shows in failure to condemn poverty as a human rights abuse, promises of heavenly bliss
Pope Francis has incorporated aspects of liberation theology into his teachings, which is a progressive Catholic movement that advocates for social change. Pope Francis described his papal name as pointing to what he wants to emulate in Saint Francis of Assisi: to have a poor church for the poor, to always go out to the margins, and to show concern for the natural environment.
African Liberation Theology took root in South Africa long before Pope Francis ascended to the throne (e.g. Walshe, 1987). However, the most visible liberation theologist was not a Catholic but Anglican bishop Desmond Tutu, an Anglican bishop and the first Black Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town.
HIV patients in Kenya now live in fear as Trump aid freeze strands drugs in warehouse
The 90-day foreign aid freeze, ordered by US President Donald Trump after taking office on January 20, has upended the global supply chain for medical products to fight HIV and other diseases. It is also blocking the distribution of drugs that long ago reached their destination countries.
