AFRICA

Cairo, Egypt | AFP |  Armoured vehicles in the streets, hundreds arrested, smartphone surveillance — sweeping measures to fight the coronavirus have raised concerns in the Middle East over the erosion of already threatened human rights. As the world battles the COVID-19 pandemic, more than three billion people are now living …

Bamako, Mali | AFP |  Mali recorded its first coronavirus death on Saturday, a day before the West African country voted in a long-delayed parliamentary election threatened by both the pandemic and security concerns. The kidnapping of the leader of the main opposition party earlier in the week has also cast …

behenjy, Madagascar | AFP | No one can remember ever seeing as many people heading out of Antananarivo along national highway number 7. Madagascans have joined the exodus in their hundreds in recent days, forming long queues to get away after the authorities declared a lockdown to try to prevent the …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The African Development Bank has raised an exceptional USD 3 billion in a three-year bond to help alleviate the economic and social impact that the COVID-19 pandemic will have on livelihoods and Africa’s economies. The Fight COVID-19 social bond, with a three-year maturity garnered interest …

Bamako, Mali | AFP | Malians vote Sunday in a long-delayed parliamentary election, despite a raging jihadist conflict, the recent kidnap of a leading opposition politician and the coronavirus pandemic. Experts see the vote as a key step towards leading the West African state out of its spiral of violence and …

BULIISA, Uganda | AFP |  It was the promise of oil — billions of barrels of black gold, discovered locked beneath Lake Albert — and the riches to follow that brought electricity to Buliisa. Roads, piped water, and other unthinkable luxuries came next, as the poor farming village on the great …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP |  South Africa came under a nationwide military-patrolled lockdown on Friday, joining other African countries imposing strict curfews and shutdowns in an attempt to halt the spread of the coronavirus across the continent. Some 57 million people are to be restricted to their homes during South …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe has re-introduced the use of foreign currency for domestic transactions in what was seen as a bid to tap into private forex savings as the country gears up for the battle against the novel coronavirus. In a statement the central bank governor John Mangudya said the move is part …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | African nations fighting the novel coronavirus face a foe as stealthy and dangerous as the microbe itself: misinformation and apathy, fuelled by deep distrust of government. Bogus news and indifference to official warnings are emerging as giant obstacles in a region where poor healthcare infrastructure, …

Blantyre, Malawi | AFP | Malawian Vice President Saulos Chilima has filed a lawsuit against President Peter Mutharika after he refused to fire the electoral commissioners who oversaw last year’s failed election, his lawyer said Thursday. A battle has been raging for months between the opposition and head of state over the May 21 vote, …