Media blackouts: Atrocities in Ethiopia are taking place in the dark because no one can document them
Armed with placards that read “Stop BBC,” “Stop CNN” and “Stop FAKE” news on Ethiopia,” supporters of Ethiopia’s government are protesting in cities across the world. Their demand: an end to what they see as biased coverage of the war in Ethiopia. Many blame international media outlets for what Prime...
How conflict between Yemeni government and Houthi rebels crushed the dreams of four million refugees
As fighting intensifies around the central Yemeni city of Marib, thousands of people are being forced to flee the violence each week. But for many, this is just the latest upheaval in more than six and a half long years of war. Sixty-five-year-old Salih al-Asoudi and his 14-member family have...
Why is Africa increasingly resorting to foreign militaries and mercenaries to provide security?
The African continent is in a situation where governments and states are increasingly turning to private military and security companies, and mercenaries for protection. Recent reports indicate the presence of the Russian Wagner Group in Africa, particularly in the Central African Republic (CAR), and its alleged imminent arrival in Mali....
Dutch health institute says Omicron variant was already in Europe before South African scientists flagged it
Dutch health authorities announced have that they found the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus in cases dating back as long as 11 days, indicating that it was already spreading in western Europe before the first cases were identified in southern Africa. The RIVM health institute said it found Omicron...
China’s minerals-for-infrastructure policy oiled former DR Congo president’s gravy train – Sentry report
When the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) government handed a no-bid contract to a subsidiary of China Railway to rebuild and maintain the road from the mining hub of Lubumbashi to the border with Zambia, with tolls charged to fund the work, it opened further taps for free flow of...
As Western firms give DR Congo’s minerals wide berth, China’s rivers of dollars fill ex-president’s accounts
A leak of 3.5 million documents shows how a Chinese-run company moved millions of dollars to former Congo President Joseph Kabila’s family and allies. The Chinese businessman had walked out of a bank in Kinshasa with 13,624 hundred-dollar bills, 10,001 fifties and 43,000 smaller US notes, despite explicit instructions to...
Omicron threat: Scientists urge patience as they investigate ‘This variant (that) is completely insane’
At 7:30 am on November 24, Kristian Andersen, an infectious disease researcher at Scripps Research, received a message on Slack: “This variant is completely insane.” Andrew Rambaut of the University of Edinburgh was reacting to a new SARS-CoV-2 genome sequence found in three samples collected in Botswana on November 11...
Discovery of heavily mutated coronavirus variant in South Africa puts world on high alert
Researchers in South Africa are racing to track the concerning rise of a new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes Covid-19. The variant harbours a large number of the mutations found in other variants, including Delta, and it seems to be spreading quickly across South Africa. A top priority...
Underpaid and under fire: The risky business of monitoring Congo’s volatile Nyiragongo volcano
Editor’s note: The second of two stories on the aftermath of the May volcanic eruption in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The New Humanitarian spent three weeks interviewing displaced people, aid workers and employees at a local observatory tasked with monitoring the volatile Mount Nyiragongo. Read part one here. This...
Sprint for electric vehicles picks up as their batteries outperform what car firms thought they’d do
Plenty of Americans are confused about the basics of electric vehicles (EVs), says Jeff Allen, the executive director of Forth, an advocacy and research organisation focused on electric mobility. A question he still hears from drivers: “Can I take it safely through the car wash? Spoiler: Yes,” he says. Fears...
