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Africa

Local players call for strike in 2017 Nations Cup hosts Gabon

BBC Africa - Fri, 28/10/2016 - 11:23
Local footballers in Gabon, the host nation of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, threaten to go on strike in a row over non-payment of salaries.
Categories: Africa

Poll promise

BBC Africa - Fri, 28/10/2016 - 02:15
The people of Ivory Coast are going to the polls on Sunday to approve or reject a draft constitution which the government says will address the question of identity which have been at the heart of years of unrest.
Categories: Africa

Can a comic teach South Africa's young hustlers?

BBC Africa - Fri, 28/10/2016 - 01:12
A South African businessman is trying to spread the entrepreneurial spirit, through a comic book.
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Ghana education: Boy who became a meme raises thousands

BBC Africa - Thu, 27/10/2016 - 19:26
A photo of a schoolboy in Ghana goes viral in South Africa, and raises thousands for his village.
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Severe hunger in southern Madagascar likely persist into 2017 due to drought-hit crops, UN warns

UN News Centre - Africa - Thu, 27/10/2016 - 19:17
The impact of severe El Niño-induced drought on crop production in southern Madagascar, where nearly 850,000 people are acutely food insecure, is likely to persist into 2017 and requires an intensified humanitarian response, the United Nations agriculture agency said today.
Categories: Africa

Madagascar: 1.5m face hunger because of drought, UN says

BBC Africa - Thu, 27/10/2016 - 18:39
The UN says 1.5 million people in southern Madagascar are facing hunger because of a severe drought.
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How many Africans live in the US?

BBC Africa - Thu, 27/10/2016 - 18:24
Many people, from all over Africa, have emigrated to the United States and now live across the country.
Categories: Africa

Swamp hideout

BBC Africa - Thu, 27/10/2016 - 01:44
Thousands civilians have been displaced in the ongoing fighting in South Sudan with some seeking refuge in protection sites across the country. The plight of an 11-year-old boy captures the suffering of many in the country. The BBC's Anne Soy reports.
Categories: Africa

South Sudan in 105 seconds

BBC Africa - Thu, 27/10/2016 - 01:43
South Sudan is the world's youngest country and much of its recent history, both before and since independence, has been characterised by violence.
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No pirates here

BBC Africa - Thu, 27/10/2016 - 01:28
Somali-Americans are tired of seeing themselves portrayed as terrorists. A new film tries to challenge stereotypes.
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Moroccan Boufal scores winner on full Saints debut

BBC Africa - Thu, 27/10/2016 - 00:21
Sunderland manager David Moyes is sent to the stands as Southampton reach the quarter-finals of the EFL Cup.
Categories: Africa

‘Nigeria faces worst humanitarian crisis on the African continent,” warns senior UN relief official

UN News Centre - Africa - Wed, 26/10/2016 - 20:36
With nearly 400,000 children facing starvation in Nigeria, and citizens suffering with little to no protection, security, food or access to clean water, “Nigeria is facing the worst humanitarian crisis on the African continent,” Peter Lundberg, the acting United Nations Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator, warned today.
Categories: Africa

South Sudan: UN human rights chief warns of ‘alarming rise’ in ethnic hate speech

UN News Centre - Africa - Wed, 26/10/2016 - 18:18
An alarming rise in hate speech and incitement to violence against certain ethnic groups in South Sudan has prompted the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, to issue a warning that if the community and political leaders at the highest levels do not rein it in, mass atrocities in the country could erupt.
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Ethiopia withdraws troops in Somalia over 'lack of support'

BBC Africa - Wed, 26/10/2016 - 17:42
Ethiopia withdraws troops from Somalia, where they had been fighting Islamist militants, and blames a lack of international support.
Categories: Africa

The taboo of Kenya's intersex children

BBC Africa - Wed, 26/10/2016 - 16:31
In Kenya, children who are born intersex cannot get birth certificates or identity cards, or register for exams.
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South Sudan: 145 child soldiers released - Unicef

BBC Africa - Wed, 26/10/2016 - 14:33
Some 145 child soldiers fighting for two rebel factions in South Sudan have been released, Unicef says.
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Mamelodi Sundowns receive heroes' welcome upon South Africa return

BBC Africa - Wed, 26/10/2016 - 14:11
Mamelodi Sundowns arrive home in South Africa to a heroes' welcome after winning the African Champions League on Sunday.
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Cameroon crash train 'broke speed limit'

BBC Africa - Wed, 26/10/2016 - 12:39
The train which crashed last Friday in Cameroon was travelling at an "unusually" high speed, a top official of the French company that runs the railway line, says.
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Rita Jeptoo: Kenya marathon runner doping ban doubled to four years

BBC Africa - Wed, 26/10/2016 - 12:27
Kenyan marathon runner Rita Jeptoo has her two-year ban doubled after an IAAF appeal was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Categories: Africa

More Activists Arrested in Lead-up to Protests

HRW / Africa - Wed, 26/10/2016 - 12:24

Congolese authorities are cracking down again on pro-democracy activists in an apparent attempt to stop protests planned for this week while spreading fear and intimidation. 

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LUCHA protest, October 18, 2016. 

© Private

Police arrested six activists from the youth movement Struggle for Change (LUCHA) yesterday as they were mobilizing students at a university in Goma to take part in demonstrations and villes mortes – general strikes – planned for Wednesday and Thursday. Another three LUCHA activists were arrested in Goma this morning. 

On Sunday, LUCHA activist Victor Tesongo was arrested at his home in Kinshasa. Intelligence agents detained him for several hours and threatened him before freeing him without charge. Tesongo was previously jailed on trumped up charges from February 16 to August 31.

Another activist, Jean Claude Ekosa from the citizens’ movement Quatrième Voix, was abducted on Sunday in Kinshasa following a meeting with colleagues. After he got into a shared taxi, a passenger took out a gun, pointed it at Ekosa, and told him not to scream. “If you cry out,” he said, “we’re going to kill you like a dog and your family is never going to find you again.” Ekosa was blindfolded and taken to an unknown destination. He was put in a cell with five other people, and interrogated that evening and the next day about his connections to the opposition and accused of being “among those disrupting public order.” Eventually Ekosa overheard the kidnappers say he “wasn’t the target they were looking for.” Early this morning, they put Ekosa back in the car and dumped him on the side of the road near Kinkole, on the outskirts of Kinshasa, still blindfolded and with his hands tied together.  
 
The demonstrations scheduled for the next two days were called for by a coalition of 173 citizens’ movements and human rights groups from across Congo, who published a roadmap last week on how to overcome the country’s political crisis. They also called on President Joseph Kabila to leave office at the end of his constitutionally mandated two-term limit on December 19. 

The planned demonstrations coincide with a summit of regional leaders and special envoys for the Great Lakes region in Luanda, Angola, to discuss Congo’s political crisis.

Categories: Africa

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