Africa

A group of South African actors in lockdown are making a hit online soap opera from their homes.

Tens of millions of people in Africa could become destitute as a result of COVID-19 and its catastrophic impact on fragile economies and health systems across the continent, human rights chiefs from the United Nations and the African Commission warned on Wednesday. 

Ugandan and Mamelodi Sundowns goalkeeper Denis Onyango is still working hard to keep fit, despite the uncertainty surrounding the return of football in South Africa.

The coronavirus pandemic threatens the hard-earned gains Africans have made throughout the continent, the UN chief said on Wednesday, urging the world to stand in solidarity with the people, “now, and for recovering better”.

UN chief António Guterres is encouraging Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan to persevere with efforts to overcome their differences and reach agreement on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

The civil war in Libya is in danger of intensifying as foreign intervention grows and the spectre of the COVID-19 pandemic adds to a deepening sense of insecurity, the head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) told the Security Council on Tuesday.

Opposition activists, including an MP, say they were beaten and forced to drink urine by state agents.

Teranga provides a safe space for migrants to dance and overcome their journey to Europe.

Aerial footage shows thousands of people in snaking lines hoping to get supplies.

Ahead of presidential and local elections in Burundi on Wednesday, the African Union (AU) Commission and the United Nations (UN) urged the authorities to provide a safe and secure environment for citizens to cast their votes.

Ismail Einashe writes that migrants are facing a tougher time since the outbreak of coronavirus.

In South Africa, illegal sellers are defying the prohibition on buying alcohol and cigarettes.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has welcomed the arrest on Saturday of one of the world’s most wanted fugitives, his Spokesperson said in a statement.

The World Health Organization (WHO) was on Thursday seeking to clarify why authorities in Burundi have expelled its top official in the country and three other staff members, the UN agency’s Regional Director for Africa told journalists during a press briefing on COVID-19.

Traditional storytellers in Chad, known as troubadours, are taking life-saving messages to remote communities in the Sahelian country, as the Government steps up its efforts with the support of the UN to counter the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and other challenges, significant gains have been made against Desert Locust encroachment in East Africa and Yemen, with an estimated 720,000 tonnes of cereal saved from the swarms of migratory pests across 10 countries: enough to feed five million people a year, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Monday.

Three UN peacekeepers from Chad were killed in northern Mali on Sunday when their convoy hit a roadside bomb near Aguelhok, in the restive Kidal region. The improvised device also seriously injured four others who are now receiving medical care, the UN Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) said in a statement. 

Unabated violence, particularly in and around the Libyan capital, has now been raging for more than a year, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) told the Security Council in a virtual briefing on Tuesday, warning that war crimes may have been committed.

Well over 40 million people across West Africa face desperate food shortages in coming months, with COVID-19 restrictions a new factor adding to people’s vulnerability, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday.

The United Nations Childen’s Fund (UNICEF) welcomed the landmark move by Sudan’s transitional government this week to criminalize female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), with a three-year jail sentence for offenders.